


Dreams Don’t Always Go To Plan

by BumblingBunny



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Kind of AU, Lemon, Smutty, Will be long, handsomejack, not canon, not very good at tagging, slower time frame, slowish burn, some things are canon related, will add more as I write, will have smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-02-27 21:28:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 138,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18747466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BumblingBunny/pseuds/BumblingBunny
Summary: You work hard at your job and it’s been noticed, but never enough for you. Finally, you get a chance to prove yourself...but will it end up costing you your life, or giving you everything you never knew you wanted?





	1. Big News

**Author's Note:**

> This is just for fun. It’s not cannon and it doesn’t go at the same speed of the games.  
> -work in progress-

 

You’ve been working for Hyperion for a little over 5 years. Throughout the years you’ve slowly worked up through different jobs gaining slight positions over your last.

You could honestly say that you enjoy working here. Your pay is decent enough for you to live comfortably and rent a small apartment aboard the large space vessel known as Helios. 

You’ve gained a few friendships with coworkers and some of your previous bosses. Not everyone here was a complete asshole. At least not all the time or to everyone. 

At this point in time, you actually liked your boss. His name was Alex Hooper. Mr. Hooper, of course to anyone who worked under him. He was an older man who didn’t have much of a temper until something really made him mad. Which thankfully, had never been something you had done. He liked you as well. You were a hard worker and didn’t slack off like many people around you often did. 

During the year before this one, he had personally promoted you to his personal assistant. He overlooked the entirety of the technical department. Which oversaw everything from data mining, password tech, programming CL4P-TPs and other things, to just making sure everything technical ran smoothly on Helios. 

This is what you had trained for. For two years after leaving home you went to school on Elpis to hone your skills as a hacker...*ahem* ...a code monkey/programmer. Not trying to “honk your own horn” but you felt you were damn good at what you did. However, it wasn’t really like you to boast to other people. After being a greeter/receptionist at one of the front desks, then a slight step up to secretary to the person/people who handle travel on and off of Helios, finally landing a position in the tech department, and then working up through various levels of said department, you  rose  to highest you could get, without somehow overtaking your boss, Mr. Hooper.

 Being the assistant, or secretary, didn’t bother you  though . You still helped with everything the department handles, but also happen to have your own desk near the boss in case he needs something done. This suited you. 

You had always enjoyed the customary business attire of Hyperion, the bustling workforce, the clean atmosphere of the space station, and most of all not being down on Pandora. 

Being this far down in the workforce, you didn’t have to deal with the asshole higher ups as much, and the worries of being fired or worse because you were a few minutes late or something similarly small. 

You had heard stories of people being “spaced” or just plainly shot on sight for doing something their boss found irritating. Especially of the highest of the higher ups himself.  _Handsome Jack_. You’d never actually met the man and doubted you probably ever would. He didn’t come to or contact your department himself. If something had somehow made its way to him knowing about it, a usually very scared person or robot would make the request for it to be   **immediately**  fixed. Luckily, he rarely knew about technical problems before they were quickly fixed.

You’d seen the posters, screens and various other things with his face on it, heard his voice many times over speakers, and had grown to know more about him through stories, he wasn’t a man to be crossed. Mr. Hooper had talked about him from time to time. Of the times he’d met him. Usually to hack into something or change something around that Jack couldn’t be bothered with doing himself. As everyone in this department knew, Jack had been a skilled code man himself. However, he rarely seemed to use those skills now, at least from your perspective. Maybe he was just too busy. You don’t know how much he actually still played around with hacking and the likes, and didn’t really think about it much. 

  For you at the present time, life was going alright. You enjoyed your job and the immediate people you worked with. You were content with your little apartment, and with visiting the gym fairly often and having a decent diet - you were pleased with your body and health. You’re considered pretty short and your body type would best be described as petite/hourglass. The only thing you had that sometimes annoyed you, was your drive to constantly try to be or show you could be better. However, once hitting the position you were in now, that was a bit more challenging to do. As you didn’t plan on killing your boss to take his job and didn’t plan on leaving your department. You usually ended up taking on multiple requests and having them done quickly and perfectly. A habit of yours that Mr. Hooper rather liked, and it helped your desire to show off your skills in a mild way. 

  Your alarm sounded off at 7am as it did every weekday morning. You aren’t necessarily a morning person, but realize it helps nothing to linger in bed to try and get 4 more minutes of sleep. You stuck your arm out of the blankets and pressed the glowing screen of your alarm and it fell silent. Taking a long  stretch,  you pulled the covers off and slid out of bed. After a shower and brushing your teeth - you put on a light face of makeup and pulled your hair into its customary bun atop your head with little wisps of hair falling to frame your face. You’re definitely not an ugly woman, and by many standards you were considered rather pretty. As a woman  though , you  though t  there could always be improvement. With a shrug of your shoulders to your daily appearance - you grabbed your things and headed to work. 

  


  


**8:03AM Hyperion Technical Department**

  


You arrived to work just after 8. It didn’t take too long to get to work, about 15-20 minutes with using the elevators and trams. Fast travel was reserved for those with codes and a higher position than you’d ever see yourself in. You sat down at your desk and began checking the days requests that had come in from the previous night. Through the glass wall in front of you - you began to see your coworkers file into the room and make their way to their desks. Soon Mr. Hooper walked in as well and made his way to his desk almost behind and off to the side of yours. He didn’t talk much in the mornings, and usually had a large cup of coffee in hand. He gave you a nod and waved his hand a bit as to say ‘good morning’, before adjusting his suit and sitting down behind his desk. You returned a small smile and nod to him, knowing he didn’t really care for talking this early. After a few hours of normal day to day activity his computer dinged and you noticed his brows furrow at whatever he was reading from his holographic screen. 

  


“Everything alright, sir?” You asked with concern.

This broke his attention and he looked over to you before replying back to whomever the message was from. “Um...uh, yes.” He stood and stretched his arms over his head before re-adjusting his suit and tie. “I have to head “upstairs” for something. I should be back before lunch, but if not, go ahead and go eat.” He walked  past  you and patted your shoulder on his way out - pointing a playful finger and telling people to get back to work as he walked out of the door in the room in front of you. 

Everyone here referred to people in higher positions as the ones “upstairs” or “the higher ups”. Even  though  the stairs were usually a last resort for travel on the immense space station. 

After a little over an hour you looked over at the time. It was just a few minutes until lunch time and Mr. Hooper still wasn’t back. This wasn’t something all that strange  though . Plenty of ‘ _I’ll be right back’(s)_ turned into hour or longer meetings. You set the message up at your desk’s echo that you were out to lunch and picked up your bag with your lunch in it. You made your way to the cafeteria/cafe area with a few of your coworkers, chatting about this and that. Over the years of working on Helios you had really only gotten closer to one other woman named Emily who was around your age and worked in the front desk area of Helios. 

  


 She was a nice and funny woman who you had met when you first started working here at the greeting desk. She had been new too and the two of you became friends. Even after you moved up in positions, she declined most promotions - saying that she enjoyed working at the front desk and seeing/talking to all sorts of people. At times she could get...over excited about things and had the tendency to hop up and down a little when something excited her. This had drawn attention to the two of you many times before while talking about promotions, dating, attractive men - and the one Emily found most attractive was of course Handsome Jack. She had met him a couple of times, or maybe it was better to say that she had seen him in person a couple of times, and she was for some reason quite proud of those moments. Perhaps it was because it showed her that he was real, or maybe, like she had said many times, he was even better looking in person. It wasn’t that you didn’t find the man attractive, because you definitely couldn’t deny that he was. You just hadn’t ever been on the bandwagon of swooning women (and some men) falling over themselves for him. You knew he was powerful and to be feared. So much so, that you had never found yourself desiring to cross his path, let alone meet him. To this day you weren’t really sure how you’d react if you did meet him or see him in person. 

  


You sat down at a table near the wall with Emily. You pulled out your salad and a small cup of  brothy  soup and began eating. Emily had some sort of saucy sandwich and began digging in as well. After she was finished, she began talking about a man she had met the previous weekend.  Apparently,  he worked on Helios as well in some department that you didn’t catch the name of over the crunch of your salad.

 She met a lot of men, she didn’t necessarily date all of them...but she was outgoing and enjoyed meeting someone new on a pretty regular basis. When she did, you’d always hear about them and anything that followed after. You on the other hand had only had a handful of men in your entire life. A couple were only for having some fun and the other few had been actual relationships. Your last one ended over a year ago on an unfortunate note, with you finding out he had been cheating. Since then you didn’t really mind being single. Sure, you sometimes missed the touch of someone else other than yourself, but it wasn’t enough to make you go and seek someone out. Besides, you spent most of your time at work and the majority of the men working for Hyperion were complete assholes.  

  You finished up your food and continued talking back and forth. Out of your peripheral vision you noticed a figure briskly walking over towards you. You glanced over and saw Mr. Hooper making his way to you through the tables and people. When he got to your table you gave him a smile and a “Well hello sir, did everything upstairs go alright?” 

He seemed a bit winded but not overly so. He smiled and greeted the two of you with a quick raised hand/wave. He had met Emily many times before. “Um, yes. It went well. Actually, I needed to talk to you about it...if you don’t mind me pulling you away from your current conversation?” He glanced between the two of you. He seemed a bit off, like something had surprised him and was now weighing on his mind - and almost eager, but not quite. 

“Of course. What is it?” You said giving him a look of confused curiosity. 

He took in a deep breath and clasped his hands together in front of himself. “Well” he began letting the deep breath out through his nostrils. “You took a test over your technical skills recently?” He asked quizzically with raised brows. 

A memory popped in your mind of hearing about a test for any and all who wanted to participate and show off their tech/computing skills and jumping of the chance to take it for yourself. 

“Yeah, I took it a couple of months ago, I had almost forgotten about it actually.” You lied giving a convincing chuckle. You had been wondering this whole time who had scored the highest and when or if the results would be announced. “What about it? Did they finally score them all?” Your interest was perked now. Emily even sat staring at the older man with a look of eager curiosity. 

“Yes...they did.” He paused for a moment, seeming to be thinking of how to say what was on his mind. “( your name ), you scored the highest.” He said with a small smile. Your eyes widened at the sentence. _What?! You?! How?_ Maybe that many people didn’t end up taking the test and you just happened to score the best. Yeah. That had to be it. 

“Really?” You said staring up at him with disbelief. 

He nodded back. “Yes, really...and because of it you’ve been given quite the promotion by someone _much_ higher than me.” His face looked a bit sadder now, but still with a small smile. 

Your  though t s immediately turned to his position. Surely your scores wouldn’t have been something to cause you to replace him. You didn’t want that. If that was the case you just wouldn’t accept the promotion...if that was even an option. “A promotion? To what? You’re the only one higher than me in he department right now and I refuse to take your job, sir!” You spoke quickly and assuredly. 

A small chuckle emitted from the old man’s chest and he placed his hand on your shoulder. “No  no ,  (your name) , you won’t be taking my job. Thankfully.” He chucked again before his face turning more serious. “You’ll be going ‘ upstairs’ . Someone big wants you to be their personal assistant. It’s a very big leap for you.” His hand left your shoulder and returned to holding his other. 

“Someone up there?” You pointed upwards as if motioning to the higher ups in the floors above you. “Who?” Almost involuntarily you  rose  quickly from your seat to stand in front of your boss. Your brows raised with an excited smile on your lips. 

Mr. Hooper stood silent for a few seconds, looking at his hands. His gaze returned to yours and gave you a slightly forced smile. “The main man himself.” 

Your smile faded and your eyes widened even more so than last time. Your stomach felt like someone dropped a bowling ball inside of it. You swallowed the lump that appeared in your throat. “ ....Handsome  Jack?” Your voice barely allowed more than a loud whisper to come out. 

Mr. Hooper smiled a reassuring smile and nodded his head at you. Emily’s eyes looked as if they could fall out of her head, her mouth fallen open with shock. You glanced from her back to him. An overwhelming feeling of excitement raced over you - your smile widening and revealing teeth now - then it began to hit you. You would be working for the most powerful man you’d ever known of. A man who was known to kill anyone who pissed him off or got on his bad side. Your smile faded and your expression turned to concern. Mr. Hooper noticed and reached over taking one of your hands.

He patted your hand with his. “You’ll be fine. You’ve been an excellent assistant to me for nearly two years and before that you were always a damn good worker. Even Jack won’t be able to complain about your work ethic.” This brought a bit of reassurance to you. He was right. You were a damn good worker. You smiled as a small bit as excitement crept its way back into you. Mr. Hooper seemed less excited. Granted, he was losing his secretary and would surly have an annoying time finding one as good as you. Or was it because he knew more about Jack than you? He had said before that he doubted Jack even knew his name, but he had seen him get annoyed, and he had no desire to be anywhere near him if that annoyance elevated. Either way, what was done was done. You had been personally picked to be Handsome Jack’s assistant. Questions ran through your mind. You wanted to pick your boss’s brain...well ex-boss now...about what you might expect working for Jack - but you didn’t...you decided to only ask one more question.

“When do I start?” Your voice came out a bit shakier than you expected. You guessed you couldn’t hide your nervousness about this just yet. 

“I was told to tell you that you start tomorrow morning at 7AM. Meaning, in his office on the hour.” His expression still giving off a concerned feel. 

You let out a small sigh. “That’s an hour earlier than I come in now.” You weren’t pouting about this, just stating the obvious out loud. 

Mr. Hooper’s mouth corned turned downward a bit. “He’s a very busy man,  (your name) . I wouldn’t push the time.”

Realizing that he  thought  you were griping - you shook your head, “I know. I was just saying.” You forced a smile that showed you weren’t trying to sound whiny. “7AM it is then.  ....Tomorrow ...” another  thought  popped into your mind. “What do I wear?” without meaning to, you spat the question out a little louder than you wanted. A few people turned to look in your direction. Your eyes met a few others’ gazes and you glanced down and back at Mr. Hooper. Lowering your  voice,  you repeated your inquiry. “What do I wear? Do I have a special uniform?” Your expression gave away your anxious curiosity. 

“I wasn’t told about any new uniform. So just wear what you usually do and I suppose you’ll see if that changes tomorrow. Now I need to head back and finish up what I was doing before I was called.” He patted your hand in his again. “Congratulations,  (your name) , you’ve definitely earned the recognition.” A small smile pulled the corners of his mouth to the side and he gave you and Emily a nod before turning and waking off. You watched him for a second, taking in everything he had just told you. Slowly you fell back into your open chair and turned to face the table. Emily was staring wide-eyed at you with a big smile. 

“ (your name) , this is fantastic! You get to get out of that stuffy department, get a raise most likely...” she wiggled her closed fists in front of her chest. “...and!” Her smile somehow got even bigger. You knew what she was going to say before she even finished her small pause.  “...Meet the Handsome Jack!” She reached over and grabbed your hands giving them a small squeeze. She was excited. You could hear her toes tapping the floor - if she was standing you know she’d be hopping in place. You smiled lightly back at her. You wished you could be as excited as she was about this, but the thought of accidentally pissing off the scariest man in the galaxy dulled your excitement. Emily continued on. “Come on, he’s probably not as bad as people make him out to be. That could all be for show. I mean, he used to work here normally before he took over and people said he was an alright guy then.” She started babbling and you could tell she was trying to help, but not much of what she was saying was doing much for you. Maybe she was right though, maybe this scary man persona was just to keep people in line...but then the stories of him killing people after they pissed him off poured into your thoughts. You would chalk it up to just being stories, but those people weren’t ever seen again. That you knew of, at least. You didn’t know any of them anyway. Plus, the occasional company wide threats over Helios’s speakers didn’t help either  

“ (your name) ?... hello?” Emily’s voice broke through your thoughts and you shook your head and looked back to her gaze. “You alright? You’ve been staring wide-eyed at the table for over a minute...not blinking...”

Realizing your eyes did burn a bit, you blinked several times to re-moisten them and wiped away the small amount of liquid that came out of your tear duct, careful to not ruin your makeup. Emily sat, waiting for you to reply. “Yeah...I’m fine. Just went off in  though t , I guess.” You noticed she was still smiling, less teeth showing now  though . You chuckled at her and rolled your eyes. “I wish I was as excited as you about this.” You confessed with a small smile. Hers turned into more of a caring smile in return. 

“Oh,  (your name) ...I’m just the stander-by. I don’t have to deal with the responsibility that comes with it, I don’t have to start something new and unknown. Of course I’m excited for you, plus a little envious that at this time tomorrow you will have spoken one on one with one of the sexiest men that has ever lived.” Her big smile crept back onto her face. “Ugh! Definitely jealous about that part.” She squeezed your hands again, a little too tightly. You squeezed tightly back and she lessened her grip. “Oops, sorry!” Her smiling lips pulled down to accompany her apology before returning upwards. 

“Calm down, Emily” you smiled and shook your head at her. “You’ll be the first to know whatever is said...and how good he looks while saying it.” you gave a quick squeeze to her hands and rolled your eyes. She giggled at the  though t  of hearing all about it. You were in a way glad that she was taking the news like this. You didn’t want her to be jealous in a way that made her resent you for getting to work for her idol. _You_ didn’t idol him after all. You really didn’t even want to meet him. You could honestly say that you weren’t too fond of him. 

The two of you burst out in quiet laughter as you both realized how young you both were acting. Snickering about your handsome boss and getting worked up over what-ifs. Just then your echoband beeped once and lit up to display the hour change. “Well, back to work...or I guess to gather all of my things and tie off loose ends.” You forced a half smile. Emily smiled back and gathered the trash from the table. Placing it inside of a trash bin as the two of you walked out of the cafe area. 

 

 Back inside your current office area, you noticed most people were already back and working on things of their own. A couple guys in the back were playing some game on their screen that hadn’t finished from lunch time yet. Mr. Hooper was in and working as well. 

You made your way back to your desk. His gaze  rose  and gave you a welcoming small smile before returning to his screen. You sat down in your chair and looked around your desk. You always kept it fairly neat. A few notes were placed around to remind you of things. You gave a small sigh as you looked at some of the unfinished tasks you had started that morning - thinking you’d have all the time in the world to complete them...well, your usual amount of time at least. Mr. Hooper must have heard your little sigh because he cleared his throat to grab your attention. You looked up from your desk and glanced over to him. He had a small almost fatherly like smile on his lips. You smiled in return. “It’ll be alright,  (your name) . Just finish up what you were working on and I’ll take over whatever is left tomorrow.” You nodded in response and began trying to finish all of your open tasks. You didn’t want him to have more work just because you had a habit of taking on more than normal people did. After about three more hours you finished with the last task. You couldn’t remember the last time you had worked so quickly. It was kind of fun. You smiled to yourself as you signed off on the tasks and sent out the confirmations to the requesters. 

“All finished, sir.” You smiled lightly as Mr. Hooper looked up from his desk and over to you. 

“With everything?” You nodded in response. He let out a small sigh and nodded slowly. “Yep, I’m going to miss having you in here. None of these idiots care as much as you do.” He motioned to the other room beyond the glass wall that divided his office from the other workers. You glanced out and looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be doing what they always did. Some walking in and out to deliver things or work on something in another part of the station. You looked back at your soon to be ex-boss. He had gone back to looking at his echo. You noticed it was almost time for your work day to end and began gathering up your stuff and tiding your desk for whoever would soon be taking your place at it. You logged off and removed your profile from the desks built in echo computer. Couldn’t have some random person hacking into your account once you were gone. Your  echoband  beeped once alerting you to the end of the  day's  hour. You stood up from your empty desk and walked over to Mr. Hooper. He stood up and extended his arm for a handshake. You took his hand and felt his firm grasp. “It’s been a pleasure having you work with me.” He said with a professional, but warm smile. 

“I’ve enjoyed it, sir.” You returned the smile and returned your hand to holding your things. You made your way out of the Tech department and towards the floor that held the apartment area. In a way you had grown to see Mr. Hooper as a fatherly figure. You had worked with him for a few years and he was always kind to you. You figured this wasn’t the last time you’d ever see him; you could always visit in your down time. If you would ever have any, that is. 

The rest of the night was different than most. You spent nearly an hour trying to decide on the perfect, most professional outfit to wear on your first day. First impressions and whatnot.

You settled on a sleek fitted steel grey mid-thigh pencil skirt with matching blazer and a yellow colored silky shirt. Your usual upper thigh, sheer black stockings with garter belt and short black heels would accompany it. You ended up calling Emily and talking for a couple of hours, in an attempt to calm your nerves. Eventually she got off and went to bed. You on the other hand were not tired. Your mind was far  too  anxious to sleep, even if you had been awake since quite early.

Realizing you didn’t want to be exhausted the next day and look exhausted at that, you took a small dose of sleeping aid to help calm yourself down enough in hopes of sleeping. Thankfully, it worked. 


	2. Unexpected Change

**5:30AM. Helios Apartment**

Your alarm startled you as it began to sound. Your brain wasn’t used to waking up this early, but you knew you would need extra time today. You fumbled around until you hit the ‘off’ button on the holographic screen. Immediately nerves flooded your stomach. Imagine hundreds of butterflies inside of you, but instead of just fluttering around peacefully they were crashing into the walls of your abdomen.   
Today was the day. A mix of excitement and dread took over all other emotions. After about 6 minutes of staring off into the darkness of your room - lost in your thoughts, you came back to reality. “Shit!” You cursed at yourself for getting lost in your own mind again. You stepped out of bed and promptly tripped as your leg, unnoticed by you, had wrapped its self in your comforter. After smacking your face into your carpet first thing in the morning - you realized today probably wasn’t going to be the best day you’ve had. “Lovely. Just what I needed a bruised face and nerves made of paper.”

You quickly walked to your bathroom and stepped into the shower after undressing. The cool water helped you relax a bit. After a few minutes and washing all of the soap off of your body, you stepped out and wrapped a towel around yourself. Grabbing your toothbrush, you shoved it under your paste dispenser and began brushing away the nights plaque.

Looking over at the time, you rushed to your room and changed into your days outfit. Your hair still damp, and face void of any makeup. You had hoped to show up fairly early to your new floor on Helios.

Quickly you dried your hair and placed it in its usual bun with wisps. Your makeup routine went as usual and by the time you were finished with everything the clock read 6:24am. You pulled up your stockings and heels and grabbed your bag and pre-made lunch. Your door locked behind you as you hurriedly walked toward the tram to take you out of the residential area. You couldn’t keep your eyes from checking the clock every time you made it to another tram or elevator.

Several nicely dressed people got on and off of the elevator on different floors and eventually you were left all alone - going up and up. It almost made it worse that you were alone now. With people bustling all around, you had other things to focus on. After making it through the Hub of Heroism, you finally entered the elevator that would take you to Handsome Jack’s office. After what seemed like much longer than a minute, the elevator stopped and beeped as it opened. Outside of the open doors a nicely sized open room appeared.

The walls were tall and adorned with yellow. Warm, bright light filled the area, almost mimicking sunlight. A few pristine white couches lay to your left with a couple of end tables around them. A small fountain was centered on the wall and nearly went all the way up the to the ceiling. A few plants were placed in the corners on either side. It was definitely nicely decorated.

In the far corner of the right side of the room was a large L shaped desk with a couple of wall length shelves behind it. A CL4P-TP stood behind it, not seeming to notice your presence. Next to the desk area on the far right wall was a nicely sized window. From where you still stood, at the elevator, you could see the stars, but not much else. To the left of the desk was a large archway that connected to a hallway. A large set of double doors could be seen at the end. “ _That must be his office_...” you thought to yourself.

Dim lights were placed every few feet on both sides of hallway’s walls illuminating every other panel. Almost beckoning towards the lit up doors at the end. You took a step forward towards the desk in the corner. The CL4P-TP sprang into action as soon as it noticed you.   
“Gooooood morning, Miss! I am currently Handsome Jack’s assistant until I will surely be replaced by someone much more capable than I! How can I help you today?” The little robots always seemed so eager and it brought a small smile to your face. You walked over to the desk, taking in a deep breath. 

“Hello..” You exhaled through slightly opened lips. “My name is (your name). I was chosen for the position of...Mr...Handsome Jack’s new personal assistant.” You stumbled over your words a bit, not sure what exactly what you should call your new boss. Did he go by Mr.? Or was it just Handsome Jack...or Mr. Jack? Your head began to swirl as the butterflies rioted in your stomach.

The CL4P-TP’s little arms flew up above it into the air.   
“Ah! Yes! You are expected today! You’ll be taking my job!”  
You frowned a bit at the robot’s statement.   
“Hold on one second while I tell him you’ve arrived!” The little robot turned and tapped at the screen that appeared above the desk. “Gooooood morning, sir! Forgive me for bothering you, but I just wanted to let you know that your new assistant has arrived!”   
Your nerves began to race in anticipation. Almost immediately a voice appeared from the echo’s speaker. “Good! Send her in.” You recognized the voice instantly. It was the one you had heard countless times over the speakers. You tried taking a few deep breaths to calm yourself, but unfortunately it didn’t seem to be working. The CL4P-TP turned back to you. “You’re good to go! Just head right through the doors at the end of the hallway! And good luck!” You didn’t really like that he wished you good luck.

After setting your tote bag and lunch sack next to the wall behind the desk, your desk now, you turned away and began walking down the hallway. The sound of your heels echoed and you wished you could just take them off and become silent. You reached the doors and paused. Another deep breath in and out. You were about to open the door when you stopped yourself. “ _Should I knock? He just said to send me in...but I should still knock, right?_ ” Your thoughts began to swarm again. You quieted them and decided that yes, you would knock.

*Knock Knock*

You lightly knocked on the door, so light that you weren’t sure he would’ve heard you on the other side.   
“Doors open” You heard his voice from a small speaker above the doors. You slowly pushed one of the doors open and peeked in before stepping in entirely.

The room was quite large. Massive windows looking over Elpis took up nearly the entire back wall. In front of them were lit up stairs that led to a platform, with a large desk atop it. The walkway to the desk was lined with water and a couple large statues of Jack himself. The room had a cool glow to it from the windows and various lights. You could probably stand here for an hour before you noticed everything. However, that wasn’t what you were here to do.

With another deep breath you began walking toward the stairs leading up to the desk. A large tall-backed yellow arm chair sat turned away from you. You swallowed the lump that appeared in your throat, knowing he was sitting right there. You made your way up both small sets of stairs and came to a stop in front of the large desk. The room fell mostly silent now that your heels were no longer tapping against the floor - something that became painfully obvious to you now.

A few seconds went by and the yellow chair slowly began to turn. You quickly straightened your attire before it turned completely. Your eyes fixed on the chair, yearned to look away to delay seeing the man sitting in it. You looked down at the desk as the man turned to face you. Your eyes slowly rose up. You noticed his attire first. A yellow shirt under a white button down with a brown buttoned vest on top of it, an open jacket on top of it all. Your eyes drew to his right arm resting on the chairs armrest. He had a blue tattoo design on his wrist. His hands were large and his arms were slightly hairy. You could see the muscles move as his fingers tapped the armrest - drawing your attention away and up to his face. His head rested on his other hand’s middle and pointer finger. His lips drawn into a sultry smirk. His eyes. One blue and one green, bore into you, they were mesmerizing. His styled hair was graced with a light streak of grey. Then you noticed the edge of the mask he was known to wear and the clasps that must have held it in place.   
You had seen pictures of him before he wore the mask, he looked nearly the exact same. What was under there that he was concealing? Either way, you couldn’t deny it one. single. bit. now. He is extremely handsome. The shape of his jaw, to his pouty lips, his perfect hair and gorgeous eyes...and that smirk. The man looked like he was crafted by an artist aiming for perfection, and holy shit, he definitely came close to looking like perfection. Your eyes traveled over his face before noticing his grin increasing.   
“Like what you see, sweetheart?” His voice hummed like smooth music. Your widened eyes snapped back to his, realizing he had caught you gawking at him. He was still smirking. His brows raised a bit. “Do you talk?” His voice slightly condescending.

You licked your lips and lightly cleared your throat. “Y-y-yes.” was all you managed to get out. You closed your eyes in frustration with yourself and took a deep breath before opening them again. He was smiling still. He looked amused now.

“Yes, you like what you see? Or yes, you do talk?” He said grinning, his sharp canines showing. Even his smile was gorgeous.   
His question caught you off guard.

“Um...” you tried to get yourself to focus on speaking instead of noticing every damn good looking thing on him. “....yes, I do talk. U-u-usually very well.” You blinked a few times and swallowed. What the hell was wrong with you? Sure, he _was_ much better looking in person, like Emily said...but that shouldn’t be making you turn into a nervous wreck. If he would just stop smiling. Then maybe you could focus.

“Usually, huh pumpkin?” He leaned forward a bit placing his elbows on his desk and holding his head in his hands. “And what makes now any different?” His eyes continued seemingly staring into your soul with a devious smile playing on his lips.   
You had to get it together. Your nerves were just fueling his amusement. You took another deep breath through your nose and exhaled.

“I suppose I’m just a bit nervous, that’s all. New job, new boss.” You gave a quick fake smile. Thankfully your words actually worked this time.   
He let out a small chuckle and leaned back into his chair. “Haha....I’ve been your boss, Cupcake. I own this whole friggin place!” His smile grew but slowly his face changed to a more serious expression. “...and everyone in it.” With that a small smirk appeared again on his lips. “Anyway. Moving on. You’re here because out of hundreds of people that took my test, blah blah blah, you scored the highest.” Your eyes widened a bit. _Hundreds_? “...I gotta admit..when I read your name, I expected some old broad named (your name) who had been cracking code for 30 years.” He let out a small laugh. “Heh...but no, some young pretty thing walks in here with her tight skirt and heels.” You notice as his eyes scan over your body slowly, an eyebrow perking up before returning his gaze to your eyes. You feel yourself quiver a bit. “You see, I would have known before you came in just how old you are and what you look like, but for some strange reason...it’s just magically not in your file. Oh, and neither is your place of birth. Strange.” His eyes narrowed at you, his lips no longer smiling. “Care to explain why, pumpkin?”

Your eyes widened. “Shit.” The whispered word fell from your lips before you could even think to stop it.

His smirk reappeared. “Language, cupcake. So I guess that confirms that you know exactly why your file is missing some very key information about you.” He motioned toward the chair next to you with his eyes. “Have a seat.”   
You glanced at the comfy looking chair and sat down in it. You looked back up at him - his eyes staring back at you. “So. Talk.” He demanded with a raised voice. You felt yourself jump a little - bringing a small smirk to his lips, before regaining his serious expression.

You let out a small sigh. “When I first started working for Hyperion and my picture was taken for my file it made me look like I was...12. I didn’t like the picture...at all. I hated how everyone looked down on me and assumed I wouldn’t be good for promoting because I was so young and looked naive. I hacked into Hyperion’s identification database and removed the photo and my date of birth from my file. No one seemed to care, thinking that it purposely wasn’t there ...or maybe they just never noticed.” You waited for his response, focusing on the surface of his desk - avoiding his piercing eyes. Hoping he didn’t kill you right then and there for hacking into Hyperion.

He began to chuckle. “So you somehow managed to hack into one of the most protected databases, and I know..I wrote the program, and instead of doing anything malicious, you take a bad photo of yourself off of it? That’s hilarious!” He began laughing. You looked up to meet his gaze. “I’m pretty impressed actually. For someone to have the skills to hack into any of Hyperion’s defenses and go completely unnoticed... not bad, sweetheart! I mean, it wasn’t against me or anything so I can’t really be upset about it...I just have one concern.” His chuckling ended and his face became serious. “You also omitted your place of birth...and maybe I’m wrong, [fake chuckle] but I highly doubt I am...” He paused for a moment - his face showing no amusement. “You’re from that piece of shit planet down there.” He emphasized the word shit. His eyes bore into you. “I’m not very fond of people lying to me and I’m not at all fond of Pandoran scum. Most are nothing but backstabbing thieves and bandits. You, cupcake, are guilty of both lying and being Pandoran. Now I see why you’re so good at hacking. Probably just as dishonest as the rest of those bandits down there.” His voice was a low growl. He wasn’t happy. At all.

“ _This is it_ ” you thought to yourself. “ _he’s going to kill me because to him I’m nothing more than a lying Pandoran._ ” You stay silent for a few seconds, before remembering one reason you didn’t like this man. He found humor in this and you weren’t going to give it to him. “ _No. I’m not going to just roll over and take this_.” Your thoughts yelling at you to defend yourself. You looked back at his piercing gaze. He looked annoyed at your silence. You cleared your throat. “May I interject...sir?” Your voice was firm.

His brows rose. Obviously surprised at your tone and that fact that you gathered the nerve to speak at all. He let out a small scoff. “Well I have been waiting for a response. Sooo...yeah, you may.” He said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.   
You swallowed and took in a breath. Your thoughts racing around your mind, trying to find the perfect words. Screw perfect words. You took a deep breath, knowing with what you were about to say, it could be your last.   
“I was born on Pandora and lived a shitty life with parents who wanted me to become some big shot so that I could supply them with money one day. They forced me to do what they wanted and homeschooled me for most the day, everyday. If I stepped out of their lines, I was beaten. They constantly told me I wouldn’t amount to anything if I didn’t follow their rules. I spent my nights sneaking out with friends learning how to hack into things I shouldn’t have been while trying not to be killed or worse. I wasn’t a thief or a bandit. I’ve only killed one person and they deserved it. Can you say the same?” His right brow rose and his head cocked to the side a bit. “I lived on that awful planet for 17 years and the first chance I got to leave, I did. I went to school on Elpis and got qualified to hack into things honestly. Then I came here, to Helios and worked my ass off trying to become something. All alone. I didn’t have anyone helping me. I may have been born on Pandora, but I left all of that behind and I am **not** Pandoran scum. So kill me if you want to, but I won’t go out bowing down to you berating me over things that aren’t true.” Your voice had remained firm and strong. Your eyes glaring back at the man in front of you. Your heart was pounding with fear, but you couldn’t let him see that.   
He looked angry. He said nothing for nearly a minute - just staring at you. Finally he closed his eyes and shook his head slowly before reopening them.

A slow smirk began to make its self apparent on his lips. “You have quite a mouth on you, pumpkin. You need to watch what you say to me in the future or you won’t be able to speak at all...I’ll make sure of that.” His voice was threatening and the smirk on his lips didn’t help.

“You’re not going to kill me then?” You asked, your voice less firm now.

He let out a spout of laughter - looking upwards. His gaze fell back on you with an amused grin on his face. “Not yet.” His grin lessened into more of a sultry smirk. He paused for a moment before continuing. “You’ve got some fire to you. That’s interesting. Kind of sexy too.” His voice was a low with a seductive growl to it.

Your eyes widened and you could feel your cheeks began to redden. You quickly looked down at your hands in your lap. Handsome Jack let out a roar of laughter and spun his chair around. Stopping himself with his hands on the desk once facing you again, still laughing but seeming to try and control it enough to talk. “You okay there, pumpkin? Or maybe I should call you Apple, because sweetheart you just turned so red!” His laughter continuing. “Come on, you can’t be that shy. Not after that little outburst you just had... plus, I’m sure you’ve had plenty of men call you sexy. Do you turn this red every time?” You looked back up to him, his expression showed pure enjoyment. He was smiling and his eyes had softened. Here he was telling you that you’re sexy, when all you could do was notice every little attractive detail of him.

“Actually no, I haven’t had all that many tell me that. At least not since I’ve been on Helios. It seems most men here want the tall, model type.” Your thoughts flashed back to the woman your last boyfriend had been cheating on you with. She looked like a model. So did the women that all of your failed relationships had gone for.

An almost devious smile appeared on Jack’s face, his expression taking on quite the seductive appearance. You felt an odd sensation in your chest. A bit of desire and fear...but both seemed to fuel the other even more. “I’m not like most men.” 

Your eyes widened again and you could feel the redness returning to your face. What was he saying with that statement? True, he wasn’t like most men. He was powerful, gorgeous, and extremely fearsome. Nothing about him was boring, like most of the men that worked in Hyperion. No...he was absolutely thrilling to you now. What had he done to you in this short amount of time? Yesterday the only thing you could agree with Emily on was that he was attractive compared to most people. Now sitting in front of him, looking at him and hearing him talk was driving your mind wild. He had complimented and insulted you in the same sentence earlier, and it annoyed you - actually it pissed you off, that he even hinted at you being no better than a bandit. However, your return fire had made you feel much less defenseless against him, and for some reason...he seemed to like it. Which made him even more intriguing. You made up your mind. If he was going to try and insult you or belittle you again, you would return with fire.

.....But what if he compliments you again...or calls you sexy again...what then? You could stand tall and defend yourself, but when it came to the other...you turned shy. Especially with him. He was known for being the sexiest man around, and you personally knew several women who would worship the ground he walked on, if they could only get close enough to him to. Men never made you turn to jello before, so why did he? This annoyed you. “Hello...? You there, pumpkin?” His voice interrupted your thoughts and your eyes snapped to his, realizing you were staring at his lips. “Off in thought? Wouldn’t happen to be about me, would it?” His lips grew into an incredibly sexy smile with one eyebrow raised.   
If you had any thoughts to form a sentence in return, they were long gone now. You pulled your attention from his smile and tried to talk.

“Um...I...um...” you blinked several times and looked down at your hands. “ _Come on, (your name) dammit, think_!” You yelled to yourself inside of your head. You cleared your throat again. “I’m sorry. I was off thinking about...what working for you is going to entail.” Your sentence didn’t sound as confident as you hoped it would.

His smile grew a bit more and he let out a chuckle. “You’re either shy or on fire, huh? It’ll be fun to see this goes.” His smile turned into a smirk as he winked at you. Before you could react to the wink, he leaned back in his chair and began informing you of what your new job would consist of. Finally, business talk...this you could do. After a couple of hours of back and forth conversation about the job, with mostly him talking and you occasionally forcing yourself to speak or ask a question. He had some stories he threw in about previous robots he had attempted to have fill the role and how most of them were no longer in working condition...you realized that your nerves definitely weren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.   
At times when you would look up from your echo to him - you had to keep reminding yourself to focus on his words and not the way his lips looked while saying them...or the way his eyes would help accentuate what he was saying. You wrote down everything you needed to remember and a few tasks that you wanted to get started on. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad...as long as you didn’t do something stupid.   
After a few minutes of silence while you finished typing out everything on your echo, Jack looked at the time and cleared his throat. “It’s nearly lunch time, you can go ahead and go...I don’t really have anything for you to do right now.” You nodded in return. He stood up from his desk and walked around to you. Standing next your chair, he held out his open hand seemingly for you to take. Your eyes fixed on his hand, not sure what to do exactly. You glanced up at him and back to his hand. His fingers gave a ‘come on’ motion. “Your hand, cupcake.” He instructed with a small chuckle. Slowly you raised your hand and placed it in his open palm. His fingers lightly tightened around it and you felt him pull up slightly. Quickly you rose to your feet and attempted to step to the side of the chair. Unfortunately, as you had hoped this day couldn’t get any more embarrassing - your foot caught on one of the legs of the chair. It seemed like time slowed as you began to fall forward. Before you knew it, you collided into the man attempting to help you out of your chair. You felt his hands catch your elbows as you fell into him. Thankfully he only barely stumbled backwards. If you would’ve made the two of you fall completely off of the raised platform, who knows how bad the injuries could’ve been. Your face was now squished into his chest, and his scent began caressing your nose. He smelled clean with a hint of something musky. Like he had just stepped out of a shower of smoky aged bourbon and flowers. He even smelled powerful. With time seeming to come back up to normal speed in your mind, you pushed yourself off of his firm chest. He began to chuckle. “I was just trying to help you up, Pumpkin, but if that’s what you’re going for...” You looked up to see a devious smirk played on his lips. Your heart was pounding so loudly, you were surprised he couldn’t hear it as well.   
  
“No...I...was...my foot...I’m sorry!” You managed to stumble out parts of a sentence.

He began chuckling again.   
“So you’re alright? You need help down the stairs too?” You could tell he was holding back some laughter. You probably would be too, if it wasn’t you...falling on your new boss...the Handsome Jack.

You faked a smile and small chuckle. “No, no...I’m fine now. Thank you though, sir.”  
You turned away before you could embarrass yourself even more and slowly walked down the stairs and to the doors. Glancing at the clock, you saw that it was only about 15 minutes before your usual lunch started. You let out a sigh. “It’ll take me an extra 15 minutes just to get there.” You leaned over the desk to reach for your lunch sack, not really wanting to waste the time of walking around to get to the interior of the L.   
It was a pretty large desk with one opening of getting behind it. It went to the floor and was taller on the side facing the elevator, about mid-stomach height for most people...on you however, it came up to your chest.   
While leaning over the shorter part of the desk, you extended your arm and could almost grab your lunch sack as a voice spoke up.   
“Well that’s a nice sight. Need a little help there, Pumpkin?”   
You jumped and spun around to see the devilishly handsome man looking at you with an amused smile. Obviously noticing your startled expression. He stepped next to you and leaned over the desk, grabbing your lunch in a swift, effortless motion. “Here ya go, sweetheart.” He winked as he handed you the sack. “I came out to tell you that you can use the fast travel to get around. There’s a special code to get back into here that only you and I will know. So let’s keep it that way, capiche?” He looked at you with raised brows. You nodded quickly in return. “It’ll be a lot quicker than trying to hoof it everywhere and it should make sure that you’re never late.” He brought up his echoband and tapped a couple of times on the screen. A beep sounded from yours, a message from Handsome Jack. “There’s the code, cupcake. I imagine you know how to delete the message without it resurfacing somewhere at a later date? I’d prefer not to have unwelcome guests appearing out of no where.”

“Yes sir.” You read the code, memorized it and deleted the message. After a few more taps of deleting it from the entire system, you closed your echo. “All done, sir.”

“That quick? Nice.” He had a look of approval on his face. You smiled a bit at the small chance to show off, and hoped there would be more chances to show what you could do. “Alright, well go eat or whatever else you do during this time. If I need you sooner, I’ll call.”

“Yes sir, thank you...for the fast travel access.”  
He winked and turned back towards his office. You walked over to the fast travel station and scrolled until you found the cafeteria floor. With a touch of your finger, you instantly felt powerful tingles all over your body, like every atom of you was being pulled forward quickly. You squeezed your eyes shut. 

“Hey could you move? I have places to go.” A rude voice came from behind you. You opened your eyes to see that you were no longer standing in your new office. You turned around to see a stout older man tapping his foot at you. “Hello? What have you never used one of these before? Come on, move!” He snapped at you. People were stepping on and off of the fast travel stations on either side of you, turning into bright pixels and disappearing/appearing. The man cleared his throat at you.

“Sorry!” You blurted out louder than expected and scurried around the man and towards the Cafe area. “That was odd feeling...” you glanced at the time while continuing on. Only a minute or so had gone by. “...but definitely quicker than walking.” You smiled to yourself at your new privilege. Your usual table was empty and you sat down to wait for Emily. Not many people were in yet. A few making their way to a table or ordering some food and leaving. You figured the majority of people who _could_ use the fast travel stations didn’t stay to eat with the rest of the lower squabble. Eventually a larger crowd of people began making their way in and began their lunch routine.   
You saw Emily walk in and look toward your table. A large smile grew on her face and she hurried over to you. “You’re alive!” She giggled as she sat down. “So? How was it? What’s your office like? What’s your job going to be like?” She took a much needed breath in before continuing. “...what’s he like?”

You exhaled through your nose while rolling your eyes. “Yes, I am alive.” You paused for a moment while Emily stared back grinning from ear to ear. “It was...nerve wracking...to say the least. My office is pretty large, big window.. Oh! I get to use the fast travel now!” You smiled.

“That’s awesome! That’s how you got here quicker than me this time, huh? Well what else? How did meeting him go?”

You let out a sigh. “Well if you count embarrassing myself constantly as a good thing. Then I’d say it went amazingly.” Sarcasm oozed out of your words.

“Uh oh...what happened?” Emily’s smile faded into a more concerned expression.

“I kept fumbling over my words, getting lost in thought, I kind of..may have...snapped at him...but that wasn’t even the last embarrassing thing. I tripped, and fell into him.” You looked up from recalling your last few hours to see Emily’s widened eyes.

“You...snapped? At him? Are you crazy? Why?”

You took a deep breath in. “He knew I was from Pandora. He found my altered file.”

“Oh...” Emily said in a low tone, not smiling at all now.

“Yeah...he wasn’t too happy about that. Basically called me Pandoran scum. It pissed me off and I just...snapped at him.”

“What did he do?” Emily’s eyes seemed they couldn’t open any wider. Seemingly eying you over to see if you had any signs of injury.

“Nothing...”

“Nothing?” Emily replied with a quizzical look.

“Nothing... He even seemed...impressed? That I stood up to him... He..uh...said it was sexy...” you weren’t sure if you should add the last bit... Emily did have a huge thing for this man and to tell her he found something sexy about you...it could upset her. You watched her to see how she reacted.

Her eyes widened again and you could see her cheek bones becoming pronounced as she began to grin. “Are you serious?! The Handsome Jack said you were sexy? Oh my gosh!” You glanced around to see if any eyes were on the two of you, since Emily’s voice continued to get louder. Luckily you didn’t spot any.

Before she could get more excited...or louder...you put your hand in front of her mouth. “Shhh! Oh my god...do you want the whole cafe hearing our conversation?” You paused and pulled your hand back. “He didn’t say _I_ was sexy. He said that my _fiery outburst_ was sexy. There’s a difference. Although...now that I think of it, he did mention something about not believing men here didn’t find me attractive.” You looked down at your unopened lunch sack in thought.

“What? What all did the two of you talk about? Men from Hyperion? Attractiveness?” She began giddily questioning you.

You rolled your eyes. “No...we weren’t talking about all of that. They were more just side comments. The main thing was that I fell on him. Okay. That was the worst thing that happened.”

“How?” She responded with a simple question this time. Her eyes still fixed on you.

“He got up to help me out of my chair at the end of our meeting...thing....and my foot caught on the leg of the chair and I fell directly into his chest. He caught me. Thankfully I didn’t knock him over. I wanted to die, just keel over right then and there...” you sat quiet for a moment as Emily tried to keep a straight face.

A few - almost - stifled chuckles later, she responded. “And? Please go on, this is almost impossible to picture. Plus, you haven’t told me anything about him yet.” Her grin betraying her guise of concern and showing her amusement.

“I quickly left and he gave me fast travel access...annnnd now we’re here. Story time over....” Emily stuck out her bottom lip. You let out a sigh. “Fine. He smelled....so good, and the way he talks...it just pours out so smoothly, and he smiles a lot..well at least he did this morning. His eyes are gorgeous, each one rivals the other. He’s heterochromic, you know? I didn’t know that...I had never noticed before in the pictures. He’s tall and well built from what I could see...and feel, when I fell into him....and-” You abruptly stopped as you realized you were babbling on about the attractiveness of the man you had always teased Emily for fawning over. Her expression revealed she noticed the same thing. She had an ‘I told you so’ look on her face.

“From how you’re describing him, I would think you find him a little more attractive than you thought you would.” She said smugly with a wide smile.   
You stared blankly back at her, not really sure what to respond with. You couldn’t really think of anything witty because...well, because she was kind of right. From the minute before you walked into his office to the minute you walked out - your views on him had changed a bit. He didn’t scare you as much you thought he would, and he appealed to you much more than you thought he would. It was only the first day though, things could easily change. Maybe it was just the shock of meeting him that made your usual thoughts weaken.   
“Well, you were right. He did look better in person and his charisma is off the charts, which makes him likable... If you aren’t on his bad side, at least. Only time will tell if I enjoy having him as a boss though.”

Emily nodded back in agreement. “Anyway, we should probably start eating...but keep telling me little details!”

You both finally opened your lunches and began eating. You retold everything you could remember off of the top of your head. Emily asked her many questions, and eventually you both finished eating right as your lunch hour ended. The two of you walked to the fast travel area so that she could watch you turn into pixels and disappear. The second time wasn’t as weird feeling as the first, but definitely still weird. 


	3. And So It Starts

You walked around your desk and sat down in the large chair. It was quite comfortable and felt new. It probably was new, since the only other assistants had been robots after all. You pulled up the desks echo and began downloading your profile to it. It didn’t take very long.

You had a couple messages you hadn’t seen yet from Emily and Mr. Hooper wishing you a pleasant first day. Your personal and work echo profiles were different, and Mr. Hooper never messaged your personal one. You responded back to his and sent Emily a message letting her know that you didn’t somehow die during the fast travel process like she had asked you to do. You immediately got a smiley face back from her.   
You looked around the room and stared at the fountain for a couple minutes, watching the water continuously fall. You turned your chair around and noticed the window again. You walked over to it and peered out. You could see part of Elpis from this angle. It actually looked kind of pretty from here. Nothing like the view from Jack’s office, but still a nice view. With that thought, he popped back up in your mind. “ _Is he in his office still_?” He hadn’t given you anything to do once you were back from lunch.   
For a little over an hour you sat at your desk wondering if you should try and ask him about your next task. You didn’t want to knock on his door and disturb him, or knock and get no reply if he wasn’t in. Calling his echo would also disturb him... Eventually you settled on sending a short message.

_Sorry for the disturbance, sir.  
I was just wondering if there was something you needed or wanted me to do._   
-(your name), _your new secretary_

You waited for a moment or two with no reply. After a few more minutes your echo dinged with a new message. You felt your heart skip a little. 

_Well hello, Cupcake. Messaging me directly, huh? Look at you being brave. How long did you wait before messaging me? I’m kidding, you don’t have to answer that. I’m in a meeting with some other companies reps right now, but I’ll be back soon. There is something you can do to entertain me during my meeting though. Consider it a small test of your abilities. I want to see if you can hack into my echo. You have....hmm... 2 minutes.  
\- Your super handsome boss_

Your eyes widened. 2 minutes?! You began tapping away at your personal echo. You preferred it over the company ones for quick hacking. You had to do this! To show him you were more than a shy, clumsy Pandoran. After a minute and a half you were nearly through his echo’s firewall and password. And done! You turned on his echo’s microphone and could hear the meeting going on. A man’s voice you didn’t recognize was taking in the background. You brought up Jack’s notepad and began typing, knowing that it would pop up in front of him as if he was the one using it.   
  
_I don’t need 2 minutes_.

You heard Jack burst into laughter. The man that was talking stopped. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry...” Jack spoke holding back laughter. “This has been just super enlightening and all, but I’m going to go ahead and leave you...um...gentlemen to it...”

Another voice spoke up. “Jack, you can’t just leave! Were in the middle of a meeting!”

You heard the click of a gun being cocked. It was definitely a distinct noise. “Listen Champ, I own this entire company. I’m Handsome Goddamn Jack. Don’t forget who you’re talking to. You want to continue the meeting without me? Be my guest.” After a couple of seconds the microphone shut off and you were instantly booted from his echo.   
You smiled to yourself, proud that you passed your small test. The fast travel station whirred to life and bright blue pixels began to form Handsome Jack. Once fully rendered, he walked over to your desk. “Well done, cupcake...I didn’t think you’d get it in 2 let alone less time. The microphone was a nice touch.” He winked at you before continuing. “How long can you trespass in a system before someone notices you?”

The wink made your heart begin to pound. He had to know how much more attractive that little action made him. “It depends on who’s monitoring the system and what I’d be doing. If I’m not changing anything...an hour...or more?”

A smile spread over his lips. “Good...I’ll have a job for you tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow, sir? Why not today?” You asked before thinking how he would view you questioning him.

“Eh...because I’m tired of being here and I’m not going to make you stay and work if I’m not going to.” He let out a small chuckle. “Besides, there’s only like an hour left of the day anyway.” He walked back over to the fast travel station and began typing a code in. He looked back over at you with a slight smirk. “It was fun meeting you, (your name). Don’t trip on your way out.” He winked as he turned into pixels and disappeared. You sat at your desk for a few minutes longer...making sure he didn’t come right back. You gathered your tote bag and used the fast travel to go to the apartment area. Once inside of your apartment you changed and lied down on your bed. You were more tired than you expected to be.

  
**5:30AM Helios Apartment (next day)**

You woke up to the sound of your alarm. You turned it off and realized you had fallen asleep right after getting home the previous day. You felt your stomach growl and remembered you had dreamt of stuffing your face at a buffet. You walked to your kitchen and poured a bowl of cereal. After satisfying your immediate hunger, you showered and got ready for your day.

  
Handsome Jack greeted you as you phased into the room. He seemed to be in a good mood. He was sitting on top of your desk, eating an apple. For a second you wondered if he was still teasing you for turned red yesterday. You walked behind your desk and sat your things down.

“Good morning, sir.” You gave him a polite smile. Still not being sure how to act around him.

He smiled back at you after swallowing his bite of apple. “Good morning, sweetheart. Ready to get to work?” You nodded back. He hopped off of your desk and began pacing in front of it. “So. Here’s the thing. I want you to hack into Tediore’s system and find out what they’re being sued for. I heard they were being sued, annnnnd I want to know why. Plain and simple. Can you do that, pumpkin? Oh...and without being caught, of course.” You nodded back again. Jack let out a small chuckle. “You gotta talk, sweetheart. You have too pretty of a voice to never let me hear it.” A playful smirk formed on his lips.

Your heart began to pound again. An involuntary small smile formed in your lips. He noticed and you saw his smirk widen. “Yes sir.” You spoke up with a soft voice. “I believe I can do that.”

“That’s better.” He said giving you a wink. “Now, Tediore advertises that they’re ‘The Working Class’s Gun.’ They’re usually cheaper and less effective overall...but they do have some nice attributes as well. They fire quickly and reload even quicker. If they can’t afford to get themselves out of this legal battle, I’m going to be proposing a...partnership of sorts. So. Find me the reason that they’re under fire...” he let out a small chuckle. “...no pun intended.” He hopped off of your desk. “I’ll leave you alone and let you work. If you need me or if you find anything, you know where I’m at.” He turned and walked down the hallway to his office.   
You stretched your arms over your head and gave your knuckles a quick crack before beginning your hacking attempt. You set up defenses to hide your identity and location before starting.

It took a bit to find Tediore’s main system of files, but eventually you broke through. After a while you glanced at the time. A little over an hour had gone by already and since you hadn’t been booted from the system as of yet, you decided to keep searching. Tediore’s system had thousands of files and hundreds of those dealt with legal means. By now your eyes were burning a bit from starring at the quick changing files and documents. Just then a date caught your eye. It was a relatively recent entry. Dated a couple weeks ago. You tapped on the date and a few files opened. You opened each and began reading. One stuck out with a case title. This was it! You quickly read the document over and over to make sure you got all of the info you could. Your heart was now pounding with excitement and you couldn’t keep from grinning. You backed out of Tediore’s system and removed any trace you may have left.   
Quickly you rose from your chair and briskly walked to the double doors of Jack’s office. After 3 knocks you heard the locks disengage, allowing your entrance. You pushed the door open and hastily made your way up to his desk. He looked up at you with a smirk. “I’m hoping you have some good news, Cupcake.”

You smiled and nodded your head. “Yes sir! I found out why they’re being sued. Apparently their quick reload and explode cartridges have been injuring the guns’ wielders much more than the intended enemies. Victims or families of dead or injured victims of the faulty mechanics have come together and made a case against them. So far Tediore hasn’t been able to claim that the system came with a warning. The sells pitch only hypes the product. There is no warning!” You noticed the excitement in your voice.   
Jack’s smirk turned into a full smile and he sprang up from his chair. “Yes! I knew you could do it! Well, I hoped at least.” You began smiling at his praise. “This is good...if I can get a meeting with the CEO and talk about all of this... There’s a big chance most, if not all of Tediore will belong to me.” He let out a bout of laughter as he walked around to the front of his desk. He had a bit of a swagger when he walked. You noticed his fitted pants and the rather obvious bulge they concealed. You quickly looked up to his face, hoping he hadn’t noticed your wandering gaze. He came to a stop next to you and you turned on your feet to face him. He was still smiling - he looked quite happy with the info you had delivered. “You did well, pumpkin. Thank you for not disappointing me.” He gave you a wink and a playful smirk.

You smiled back, genuinely this time. For some reason you didn’t feel as nervous right now. Maybe it was because you just showed how awesome at hacking you are, but who’s guessing? He continued looking at you for a few seconds, just smiling a small smile. “I-Is there anything else you’d like me to start on, sir?” you had begun to feel a tad uncomfortable under his gaze and decided to change the subject.

He chucked a little and shook his head. “Do you ever stop working? You don’t have to show off for me, baby. I’m impressed with what I’ve already seen.” His canines began showing through his smile.

All of the nicknames he uses and this was the first ‘baby’ you had heard. It made you smile a bit. Although you realized it didn’t mean anything. He was impressed already and that was enough to make you smile for a week...the pet names were just a bonus. The name (your name) wasn’t ever your favorite to begin with and as long as he was calling you pet names, you figured he wasn’t mad at you. A win-win in your eyes. You had been admiring his smile again as you thought to yourself. Only coming back to reality when you noticed his expression change and his head cock to the side. He was making a smug ‘I caught you again’ look. “You know, you never did answer if you liked what you saw, yesterday.” He was smirking and was obviously rather amused at your eyeballing of him.

Your eyes widened at his statement. You had hoped he had forgotten about your avoidance of his question. “ _Be brave, (your name)_.” You thought to yourself. “I think it would be difficult for you to find many people that didn’t _at least_ think you were handsome.” You spoke strongly and were quite proud of yourself.

He chuckled again. “Yeah, you see...you just avoided the question again. Better this time though, I’ll give you that.” He was smiling and his eyes showed that he was enjoying this little moment. “You’re different, you know. I’ve noticed you staring at me and zoning out, or looking at my body, and I gotta say, it looks like you’re admiring... but yet, you refuse to tell me that you want me. You’re not like all of those other bimbos that swoon over me.   
I thought I liked it when they did that. I’m starting to think I like this a little more. It’s almost a bit of a challenge now.” He smiled again, showing his brilliant teeth. You refused to show him your interest and held a perfect poker face with a polite smile. He began laughing to himself and walked back to his chair - plopping down and resting his head in his hand. “You’re doing it again. You _are_ pretty good at that. Just one thing that betrays you though.” He winked with a devious smirk, but didn’t continue.

You waited for a moment before speaking up. “And are you going to tell me what that thing is, sir?” You watched him with curiosity.

He began laughing. After nearly a minute he wiped his eyes and his laughter lowered into more of a chuckle. He regained some composure and met your gaze. “Nope.” He paused for a moment. Pure amusement written on his face. “I think it’s fun to watch. One day I’ll get you to tell me that you want me...” He leaned forward and his voice lowered into a seductive growl. “...and I look forward to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So obviously this will be starting off slowly. It should speed up soonish though. If anyone wants me to continue, that is. 
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


	4. A New Opportunity

The rest of your day went on as normal. Lunch with Emily, back to work to work on little technical tasks for people that Handsome Jack said you could work on when you weren’t busy, and back home again.

The next several weeks went about this way. Jack had you set up meetings with Tediore and the other companies here and there. He had even asked you to sit in on some of them. Watching him conduct the meetings with full control and ease was quite alluring.

  
By now, nearly three months into your new position, you were actually feeling confident as a ‘higher up’ secretary. You talked fairly normal with Jack now and found that there was much more than just good looks to him. However, you had also seen his temper by now. You weren’t usually the cause, but he had lashed out at you a few times. This was always a scary thing. One wrong move when he was angry could cost you your life.  
He usually apologized when he noticed he had scared you, and would actually seem to try and calm down. You found that you could usually calm him down by getting him to talk about something different or sometimes even by letting him rant about the idiot who had caused his anger. You had noticed him come back to his office a couple of times with blood splatter on his clothes. For some reason the thought of him killing someone who had just pissed him off, didn’t scare you as much after a while, but seemed to intrigue you. You had always been drawn to men with some power. Jack was the mother load of power. You had also been catching yourself agreeing with some of his more eccentric ideas to deal with problems on Pandora. He was starting to get to you, and you weren’t sure if you liked it or not....but, you didn’t hate it.

By this time, Emily had seemed to grow used to you working for Handsome Jack and only got really excited when you would remark about some small flirtation or attractive thing he had done. She was also betting on if the two of you would ever hook up. You usually shot that idea down, knowing that it wouldn’t happen. You hid your growing attraction of him from her. You didn’t want to hear her bragging about being right.

  
You had a pretty decent routine going now. You had gotten Jack to try your sweet coffee from the café one day and he ended up liking it. Usually sneaking sips of yours as he would stand and talk to you at your desk. You began getting the two of you one every morning on your way to work. You’d bring his to him in his office after setting your things down at your desk.

For about 30 minutes to an hour, the two of you would drink your coffee and discuss the plans for the day, recent events, or whatever else popped up. It was during these talks that he continued to grow on you. You found yourself giggling at his twisted sense of humor and getting lost in his heterochromic eyes more often than not.  
You would then work on whatever task he had given and once finished, you would move on to technical tasks that had been posted. (Mr. Hooper was happy to have you still working with the department, in a way.)

After lunch, you’d finish anything you still needed to do and once the work day was over - if Jack wasn’t in a meeting or off station, you’d sit in his office and discuss the tasks you had finished or were still working on before leaving for the day. You had begun to enjoy working for Jack. He was definitely still fearsome and you watched what you said when he was in a bad mood. You knew he could kill you easily, if he ever wanted to. However, the power he gave off when he was angry or excited intrigued you, and only added to his sex appeal. Occasionally he would say something that would leave you lost for words and shy, but for the most part, you were getting better.

 

                              •••

  
**12:43PM Your Office Area (** 3ish months into your new position **)**

  
You sat at your desk working on a small task after lunch. The day had gone by so far like any other. You looked up as you heard footsteps coming from Jack’s office. He rounded the corner of the archway and stood in front of your desk. “Yes sir?” You asked, looking up at him.

“When’s the last time you were on Pandora, kiddo?” He asked with a straight face, only an eyebrow raised.

Your brows furrowed a bit with confusion. “Um... 8ish years. Why..?”

“I have to go down there today to check on things in Opportunity. I’d like you to come as well.” His tone sounded nice but more like ‘ _you’re going to come with me_ ’

“Um...I don’t know...” you began to try and find a way out of going back to _that_ planet.

“Come on, it’s been almost 10 years. Don’t you want to see if it’s changed at all since you’ve been there? Plus, you’ll get to see my new city.” He bounced his eyebrows and smiled at you.

You let out a small sigh. “Alright...but just for Opportunity... I really don’t care about the rest of the planet.”

He smiled at your comment. “Good. Go home and pack a bag for a couple days. We’ll be staying in Opportunity over night. Meet me back here when you’re done.” He turned away before you could interject. “Oh, and try not to take too long. M’kay, pumpkin?” You heard him shout as he continued walking back to his office.

You sat for a moment. “ _Staying the night on Pandora? ....With Jack_.” Your head went a little dizzy at the thought of being there again. You quickly sent Emily a message explaining why you wouldn’t be at lunch for a couple of days and traveled to the apartment floor. You hurriedly packed a bag with your make up and other toiletries and moved on to gathering outfits. You decided on bringing a couple non-business outfits as well, more casual, but still nicer than what the majority of people on Pandora wore. You folded all of the outfits, placing them, your sleeping clothes, and shoes into another bag. You rushed to the fast travel station and made it back to your office. Jack was lying on one of the couches, his feet propped up on one of the arms. He looked pretty relaxed. You hadn’t been gone all that long. 30 minutes maybe. He opened his eyes as you walked closer to him. “All ready.” You said holding up your two bags. He looked at your luggage and a small smile appeared on his lips.  
“Got everything you need? It’s only for a couple days, you know.”

You rolled your eyes playfully. “I know. I had to make sure I had everything I would need though. Are _you_ ready?”

He chuckled and slid off of the couch to his feet. He bent over and picked up a medium sized bag and slid the strap over his shoulder. “Always.” He walked over to the fast travel station and scrolled down a ways. He looked over at you and held his hand out. “Well come on, Cupcake. It’ll be quicker if we both go together.”

“Oh. Okay.” You replied as you walked over to him. He scooted you in front of him and placed his hand on your shoulder while the other tapped on _Travel Hub_. The buzz of being teleported rolled over your body. His hand left your shoulder and you opened your eyes. So many people were bustling around, dragging luggage, and checking in for their departure or arrival.  
You felt Jack’s hand on your arm, pulling you out of your zoning observations. You followed behind him - noticing people briefly stop and stare at him as the two of you walked by. You felt a little special. Here were all of these people that looked up to him, worshiped him even...and you were the one he was bringing along with him to his city.

You realized that you didn’t know how it felt to be like those people. You had never worshiped Handsome Jack before or after becoming his secretary, and now you were close to him everyday.  
Jack came to a stop at a decent sized shuttle. A man hurried over. You could tell he was nervous. His voice shook a little. “Hello, Handsome Jack, sir. I don’t need anything from you, but she..” the man motioned to you with his hands. “...will need to show her ticket before she can board.”  
You heard Jack let out a heavy sigh. Uh oh. You knew that sigh...he was getting annoyed.

“Look. You obviously know who I am. Ya know, your boss. The man who can have your entire life destroyed if you annoy me. Well guess what. You’re annoying me. I can’t figure out why you would think anyone with me would need to show you anything.” Jack stared down at the man. His expression firm and serious.

You could tell the man was visibly shaken. “Y-y-yes sir. My ap-apologies. Your seats are ready for you...both of you!” He quickly opened the door.

Jack motioned with his hand. “Ladies first”  
You stepped inside of the shuttle. There were rows of seats to the right. Most already filled, and thankfully facing away from you. You didn’t really feel like being gawked at again. Jack stepped in behind you, nearly right against you, as you hadn’t taken another step passed the doorway yet. You felt your back go rigid feeling him this close. “We’re to the left, pumpkin” You turned and made your way over to a pair of sliding airlock doors. Jack walked up behind you and pushed a button, opening the doors. A small cabin, with two comfortable looking chairs along the back wall and a table in the middle, lay in front of you. “Yeah, we would’ve taken a private flight..but this trip kinda came up short notice.” You were still pretty impressed. This was far better than the people in the cramped rows had. You felt the doors close behind you.  
Jack walked over to one of the chairs and plopped down - his legs spreading, making room for- “ _No. don’t start thinking of that._ ” You scolded yourself, pulling your eyes away from him before glancing back to his face. A small smirk spread over his lips, obviously noticing your attempt at controlling your eyes. “You gonna sit...or just keep staring at me?”  
Your eyes widened and you could feel your cheeks began to warm.

“I wasn’t-...“ you attempted to talk but stopped as his smirk grew larger with a raised brow. You let out a small huff and walked over to your seat. You sat down and crossed your ankles. You could barely hear more people getting on. You couldn’t imagine this shuttle held all that many.

A voice came over the speakers and announced take off. Jack leaned over you, you could smell his sweet aroma, his arm pressing against your abdomen. He grabbed your seatbelt and pulled it around you. “You don’t travel often, do you?” He smiled as you shook your head. He leaned back to his side and buckled himself in.  
You felt the shuttle began to accelerate forward. You felt yourself become lighter as the shuttle passed out of Helios’s gravity barrier. It didn’t take too long before you felt gravity’s pull again. The shuttle touched down and you unbuckled yourself. Jack let out a small chuckle. “Welcome back to Pandora, sweetheart!” Your nerves began grow.  
  
Jack stood and pulled his bag over his shoulder. You stood as well picking up both of your bags. He held his hand out towards you. You looked down at it and back up to his face. “I’ll carry one of your bags, cupcake.” He chucked as he wiggled the fingers on his outstretched hand.

“Oh. Um...thank you” you replied, handing him the slightly heavier one with your clothes in it. It didn’t even make his arm dip with the weight. You noticed the muscles in his forearm flex...you wanted to reach out and touch them..but decided it was best not to. As that would probably be weird...and awkward.  
Jack pushed a button and the doors slid open. You noticed a few people turn to see who was important enough to have the private seating. Their eyes bulged as they saw Handsome Jack walk out of the shuttle and then focus on you. You smiled a polite smile and quickly exited.

An entire Hyperion themed city lay in front of you.

“This way, pumpkin.” Jack had begun walking up some steps near you. You caught up to him and walked a couple paces behind. The two of you made your way to a tall building in the back of the city’s main square. The inside was open and decorated even nicer than your office. Yellow accents adorned every wall, railing, light, and almost everything you looked at. It looked quite nice against the steel grey and white. Plants and fountains were placed symmetrically around the large floor and at the very center sat a round welcome center. A robot stood behind it and played a welcoming greeting to the two of you as you walked past, to the elevator. Most people walking around wore business attire and seemed to have places to be. This definitely was a Hyperion city.

  
Once inside the elevator, Jack pressed the the highest floor’s button. The doors closed and you felt the quick pull of rising up. “We’re just dropping our stuff off for now. I have somewhere I want us to go.” The elevator opened and another open room, smaller this time, with a door on the far wall came into view. Jack typed a code into the door and walked in - you followed behind.

A nicely sized sitting room sat on the other side. The walls were high and and held large windows on the far side. A very nice kitchen area sat in the back. Dividing the sitting room and kitchen was a half wall with opaque glass on top that rose to the ceiling. A door could could be seen on the left and a archway on the opposite wall. “I’ll give you the tour, cupcake.” Jack spoke up, drawing your attention. “This is the living room/sitting room. Whatever you want to call it.” He pointed to the door on the wall left of the entrance and then towards the kitchen. “That’s the bathroom, kitchen obviously...annnnd this...” he walked over to the archway on the right wall. “...is the bedroom area.” He looked back at you and motioned for you to follow. You walked through the opening into a small hallway with two doors on either end. He pointed to the right.“That ones yours. Guest bedroom...you’ll be the first to stay in it” and then to the left. “...and that ones mine. You can go ahead and put your bags in your room.” He turned and walked into his room, leaving the door open.      

 You opened your door and stepped in. A nice sized bed lay on the far wall between two small tables. A large armoire sat on another wall. There was an open door that revealed a small bathroom with a shower. The entire room looked so new and pristine. You sat your bags down on the bed and walked back into the sitting room. Jack was standing near the door already. “Ready to head out?” He asked.

“Where are we going?” You asked as the two of you walked back to the elevator.

“Oh, just a little town inside of a cave.” You looked up to see a small smirk on his lips.

“Hollowpoint?” Your tone came out a bit harsher and more surprised than expected.

 

Hollowpoint was where you grew up on Pandora. You weren’t born there, but your parents thought it would be safer inside of a cave. When you were about 6, they packed everything up and moved. Unfortunately, Hollowpoint was still full of criminals and you ultimately were kept under lock & key for most of your time there. Unless you were out waiting tables or cleaning up the vomit and piss at the bar. A job your parents had forced you to get.

You had learned how to pick the lock to your window and would regularly sneak out while your parents slept. Because of this, you didn’t actually see very much of Pandora during the day. As a teenager, you and your friends would drive out of the cave and ride around the surrounding area. Unfortunately, you were caught a couple of times. Punishment usually involved a change of locks and finally your mother installed a device that would set off an alarm if your window was opened. Unknown to her, you hacked it the first night and learned how to turn it off and back on. 

 

Jack’s smirk remained on his lips. “Yep. That’s the one!” You decided not to say anything, hoping it was just for business. 

  
The two of you took the elevator to a low floor labeled ‘ _Garage_ ’. A retina scan confirmed Jack’s identity and allowed access. Once the doors opened you saw several Hyperion company issued vehicles. Jack lead the two of you to a rather nice looking one. He opened the door on the drivers side and slid in. You walked around and got in the passengers seat. Jack started the car and sped out of the garage.

The garage let out to the side of Opportunity’s main city area and was guarded by several robots, some armed guards, and a few turrets. You looked out of your window to see the ocean that surrounded Opportunity. It was actually rather beautiful. He picked a good spot for his city.  
It took almost an hour to get to Hollowpoint. You were able to see more of Pandora passing by than you ever had.

Once the opening of the cave was visible, Jack pressed a button and you saw the outside of the car turn invisible. He must have noticed your eyes widen. “Cloaking mechanic, sweetheart. Don’t want any bandits getting any ideas.” Eventually the car came to a stop behind some buildings. You instantly recognized them. This was the alley your old house was near. “Alright Pumpkin. Look familiar?” He asked with a smirk.  
  
“How did you know?” You brows furrowed with your question.

“I’m Handsome Jack, babydoll. I have my ways.” He smirked deviously as he winked at you. You stared blankly back at him. “Oh, don’t give me that face. Your parents still live here, ya know? I did some research.” You looked out of the front window in the direction of the old wooden house you remembered.

“Why are we here?” You asked blankly. You really weren’t sure why he brought you all his way.

“I figured you’d want to finally show your parents what you’ve accomplished. I also figured you wouldn’t come here on your own. Sooo...I brought you.”

You eyes widened. “Are you serious? I can’t go talk to them. I haven’t seen them since I ran away one night. They probably think I died!” Your voice was a bit frantic.

“It’s up to you. I’m not going to force you to go see them, buuuuut imagine the look on their faces when you show them how far you’ve made it. You’ve accomplished quite a bit, cupcake. Don’t you want to rub it in their faces?” His expression was firm but softened by a small smirk.

You sat silent for moment, thinking over his words. There had been many times over the last few years that you wanted to just call them and brag...but you never did. Here was your chance to. You nodded. “Yeah. I.. I guess I do.” You opened your door and slid out.

“Go get ‘em, pumpkin!” He shouted as you closed the car door behind you.

You slowly walked out of the alley and towards the house. You could see a few people walking here and there. A few looked at you strangely and began whispering. You did stand out, after all. Wearing your usual mid-thigh skirt and blazer...oh, and being clean, didn’t exactly scream ‘I’m from here’. You walked up the steps to your old house and knocked on the door. You could hear some commotion inside and footsteps coming closer to the door.  
“Who is it?” A mans voice grumbled on the other side. You recognized it.

“It’s (your name).” Your voice was firm, but you could feel your entire body shaking.

You heard some locks clicking and the door opened. A man, who resembled what you remembered as your father, but older, opened the door. His expression instantly turned from a scowl to surprise. “Well I’ll be damned. We figured you were dead.”  
A woman’s voice called out from further inside.  
“Who is it?”  
“It’s uh...it’s (your name).” He called back. Still looking at you.  
“Oh whatever. Real funny.”  
The man turned his head and yelled inside.  
“I’m serious. It’s (your name). Come out and here and see for yourself if you don’t believe me!” He turned back to you. “You might as well come in. Dressed like that, you’ll attract unwanted attention.”  
You followed your father through the front door into the living room. He motioned for you take a seat and plopped back down into his chair. You sat down on a foot stool made from an old booze crate. You heard floorboards creak and looked in the direction. Your mother stepped into the room. Her eyes widened as she saw you. She also looked much older now. People on Pandora didn’t age as well as you would elsewhere.  
“Oh my god. We thought you were dead. Where the hell have you been? It’s been..what...how many years now?” Her voice sounded snappy but also in shock. She walked over and sat down on the edge of the couch near you. She began eying you up and down with a bit of a scowl.

“First off. Hello again...” you began talking. Your voice shakier than you had hoped for. The two just looked at you with furrowed brows. “It’s been about 8 years...to answer your question. And...I’ve been on Helios for about 5 of those. Working for...Hyperion.” Your mother scoffed. “I went to school on Elpis, and then went to Helios. That’s where I’ve been ever since I left.”

“ _Left_? You ran away.” Your mother snarled back at you. “And what have you been doing on _Helios_ all these years?”

You took in a deep breath. Your father remained quiet, just listening. You could already feel that this wasn’t going well. “I’ve slowly worked up through different positions. Now...I’m a personal assistant to...” you hesitated for a moment. A lot of people on Pandora didn’t care much for Jack and Hyperion. “...a very high up, important man in the company. I was chosen personally because of the skills I posses.”

Your father let out a small chuckle. Your mother scoffed again and began talking, “So you’re a secretary? That’s _all_ you’ve become? And what skills? What’d you do, get on your knees for the guy? You were never good at anything that would help you succeed in a company. Picking locks and hacking into things? Oh, can’t forget sneaking out. You weren’t even good at that though, you still got caught.” Your mother’s voice was beyond condescending as she berated you. You could feel your heart pounding. Your jaw remained clenched as you demanded yourself to keep a straight face. “And if you’ve been living _so_ nicely up in that space station all of these years, how come you never sent any of that money down to us? We raised you after all. And what are you wearing anyway? With a skirt that tight I can see why you kept getting promotions.” As your mother finished, your father chuckled to himself. You noticed your mother sneer at your clothes.

You looked down at your skirt, and then back to your parents. “This is company standard. It is _business_ attire. I didn’t get on my knees or show some leg for _any_ of my promotions. I earned every single one of them! What have you two done in the last decade? Continue living in this shit?” You motioned to the room around you. “And you _raised_ me!? You kept me locked in my room most of the time or sent me off to work in that shitty bar down the road, so that you could take every bit I earned! You don’t deserve to see a single dollar of what I make now. I came here to show you what I’ve accomplished. Without your rules. Without your ‘ _guiding hand_ ’ across my face. Nothing I did was ever good enough for you back then and apparently it still isn’t now. But you know what?” You stood up from your crate. “I don’t give a fuck what you think.” You turned and stormed out of the house without looking back.  
Tears began forming in your eyes as you ran back down the alley way. You saw the car uncloak and you ran to your side. You slammed the door as you got inside. The car began recloaking. You didn’t look at Jack. You buried your face in your hands and began crying. You hated the fact that you were crying in front of him, but you couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Memories of your life here began filling your head. They were awful memories. You felt Jack’s hand come to rest on your shoulder. You took a deep breath and attempted to talk. “I’m sorry, sir. It just brought back a lot of bad memories. *sniffle* They...my parents haven’t changed at all.”

You heard him take a deep breath and exhale. “Yeah, I uh...I noticed. I heard what they said.”

You raised your head and looked over at him. “You were listening?”

He nodded back. “Yeah...I hacked your echo and listened in. I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened.”

“Oh...” you sniffled again. Tears still welling up in your eyes. “...Thank you. I just...I just thought that maybe...they would be at least slightly impressed...or surprised.” The tears started flowing again. You hated feeling this weak. You turned your head to look out of your doors window, to avoid Jack seeing you. “I’m sorry that I’m crying...I..” Your thoughts were cut short as you felt his hand clutch your face and turn it towards him. His lips pressed into yours. Your eyes closed as you began to quickly melt into his kiss. Your hand lowered and rested on his. He held you there for a few seconds before letting his hand leave your face and pulling away. Your eyes fluttered open. Jack’s gorgeous eyes stared back into yours. Your tears had stopped, but you could only imagine what your mascara had done to your face. Jack looked back to the wheel and started the car.

“Let’s head back, cupcake.”

  
The two of you listened to music on the way back, not speaking a word. However, your thoughts were on that kiss, nearly drowning out the music. You figured it was best to not bring up what had just happened. If he wanted to talk about it at some point, then he would have to start that conversation. It did feel nice though. His lips were soft even through the mask. You began to wonder what they felt like without it. The moment continued to replay in your head, feeling the ghost of his touch.

  
Eventually you made it back to your temporary room in Opportunity. Jack told you that he had to meet with some people and to order something to eat for yourself, if you got hungry.

It was getting dark now. You weren’t really all that hungry after the day’s earlier events. You decided to take a shower instead. It had much better pressure than the one in your apartment. You washed off all of your smeared makeup and just stood in the warm water for awhile after washing your hair and body. You plucked your razor out of your toiletry bag and gave your leg stubbles a quick shave before getting out. Once you were all dry you picked out some shorts and a baggy shirt to wear for the rest of the night. You figured you wouldn’t be seeing Jack again tonight anyway.

  
You plopped down on your bed and began reading a book on your echo. After awhile you began to get thirsty. You remembered Jack telling you that there was a cold water dispenser in the kitchen. You peaked out of your door. Most of the lights were still off and Jack’s door was still ajar. “ _He must not be back yet_.” You thought to yourself as you walked to the kitchen. You turned on the light and picked a glass from the cabinet. You put the empty glass inside of the dishwasher once you had your fill of water. The front door opened as you were about to make your way back to your room.  
Jack stopped in the doorway and gave you a smile. “Well hello there, pumpkin. You look....comfortable.” You smiled back before remembering what you looked like at this moment. Damp hair, short shorts, baggy t-shirt, and no makeup. Instantly your smile disappeared as you looked down at your attire. Jack let out a chuckle as he walked further into the room. “Don’t be embarrassed, Cupcake. You look fine. Actually, I like your hair being down. It looks nice.” He walked back to his room and came out a few moments later. His jacket, vest, and shoes were now off. He walked over and got a glass down for some water. You inched over and sat down on a bar stool, on the other side of the counter. He finished drinking and looked over at you. “Sorry I’m late getting back. The people I was meeting with, that are finishing up building this week, and removing the cranes...got delayed by some of Pandora’s... _lovely_ wildlife.” You could hear the sarcasm dripping out of the world ‘lovely’. It made you giggle to yourself. “Anyway, I have one meeting tomorrow morning and then we’ll head back up to Helios. You’re free to wander around the city. Nothing should happen to you. It’s safe here, I’ve made damn sure of that.” His lips curved up a bit with a proud smile. Your thoughts went back to how they felt, and to the kiss. You quickly chased the thoughts away.

“I might do that. It doesn’t feel like we’re on Pandora here. I like it.” A small smile placed its self on your lips.

Jack smiled back. Seemingly proud that you liked his city. “Good. A lot of work has gone into it...And a lot of money....annnnd a lot of blood. Not mine, but uh...yeah. You get it.” He chuckled and sat his glass down on the counter. His expression turned more serious. “I’m sorry about your parents. They’re _huge_ assholes.” He paused for a second, before looking up at you with a big smile. “I can kill ‘em for you if you want!” You could tell he was being serious about the offer, but in a playful way. It made you chuckle out loud.

“No... I don’t want you to kill them. Let them slowly rot on Pandora.” You smiled mischievously back at him. You didn’t love your parents anymore, not once you were old enough to realize how they treated you. If they died, they died...but you weren’t going to call a hit out on them.

Jack smiled back. “Alright, alright...offers there if you ever want it though.” He waited for a moment before speaking again. “Speaking of...you said you killed someone once. I gotta say, I’m quite curious about that, pumpkin.” His brow was raised as he watched you..waiting for your response.

You looked down at the counter. The memory came to your mind. “Alright. I’ll tell you if you answer a question for me afterwards.”

Both of his brows raised and he cocked his head slightly to the side. “Ehh...it’s not going to be about how many people I’ve killed, right? Because, honestly...I haven’t kept count.” He began chucking. “I mean seriously, it’s been quite a few. And yeah, probably not all of them deserved it, but what’s done is done.” He shrugged his shoulders with a small smirk.

“No...it’s not about that. Do you agree to my terms, or not?” You smiled smugly back at him.

His eye lids lowered and his grin became devious. “Mmm. Look at you taking control. That’s usually more my role.” He winked and you felt your resolve weaken. “...but I’ll let you have it this time, sweetheart. I’ll agree to your terms.”

You took in a deep breath. This wasn’t what you would call a good memory, but it wasn’t all bad. “When I wasn’t locked in my room or being homeschooled, my parents forced me to work at a bar down the road a ways from our house. The bar’s owner was decently nice to me. He didn’t know that my parents took all of my wages. Well.. as you can imagine, there were always people there that were beyond drunk. Some of them would act out. One night a man grabbed at me one time too many and the bartender threw him out - told him he wasn’t allowed back. He was tired of him harassing me and the other women who worked there. I was only 16 at the time. When I left a little later, the man was waiting for me in the alley next to the bar. He grabbed me from behind and held a gun to my head. Told me not to make a sound, or he’d shoot me.” You paused and glanced up to Jack. His brows were drawn together, and he seemed to be listening intently. “Anyway...he drug me into a van and drove me away from the bar. Eventually he stopped and climbed into the back with me. He was mad at me for getting him banned from the bar. He told me that I was going to make up for it. He unzipped his pants and put the gun in my face. Then he leapt on top of me. I tried to get him off of me, but he was much stronger then I was. I managed to knee him in the balls and he fell over. I grabbed the gun and instantly shot him in the head. I did it without thinking, but I’ve never regretted it.” You looked at Jack and shrugged. “Now you know.”

His brows remained furrowed. “I’m...sorry for making you remember all of that.” His voice was low. You didn’t see him being sincere like this very often.

“Don’t be. I was afraid then, but it hasn’t bothered me for a long time. You asked to know, so I told you.” You gave him a reassuring smile.

His expression softened. “Well I’m glad you killed him. People like that deserve a bullet to the head. Fucking bandits.” He took another drink from his glass and cleared his throat. “Anyway....moving on. What was your question?” He gave you a small smirk.

You hesitated for a moment. Unsure if you really wanted to ask him about it... “Why-“ You paused for a second to clear your throat. “Why did you kiss me earlier?”

A very slight expression of surprise showed that he wasn’t expecting that question. A smirk began to form on his lips. “Why did you kiss back?”

“You’re supposed to be answering my question.” You kept a straight face and firm voice.

His smirk grew into a grin and he chucked. “Fine. Because I wanted to. Plus, I figured it would...uh...get your mind off of things. Your turn.” He motioned to you with his hand.

“Okay... well you were right. It did get my mind off of...everything. It was a bit of a surprise after all.” You saw his smug grin grow. “I guess, I kissed back because it felt it nice. Even if you were just doing it to amuse yourself. For at least a second, you saw me as acceptable enough to put your lips on.” You grimaced at how desperate you sounded. You hadn’t intended for it to sound that way. You glanced up to meet his gaze.

He had an expression as if you had just told him something incredibly stupid. He began to chuckle. “Acceptable enough? Are you serious? You’re serious right now?” You looked back at him quizzically. “You’re far better than acceptable. I’ve kissed women that were ‘acceptable enough’.” He motioned some air quotations “I didn’t kiss you to amuse myself either, alright? You’re not one of those women that’s obsessed with me. There’d be no point in toying with you!” He continued chuckling a bit.

You were honestly a bit surprised. You had expected him to agree that the kiss was a joke. Maybe he _did_ just use it to distract you though. He didn’t say it meant anything, after all. Your echoband emitted a small beep and you looked down at the time. “I should probably go to bed...”

Jack’s chuckling faded and he nodded. “Yeah. Me too, I guess. We still have work tomorrow after my meeting.” 

You turned away and walked to the hallway. After a few seconds, Jack followed behind you. You got to your door and turned back towards him. “Good night, sir. Good luck with your meeting tomorrow.”

Jack smiled and winked back at you before closing his door. “Nighty night, Cupcake.”


	5. A Little Stress Relief

**9:30AM Opportunity(Temporary)Apartment**

  

You pressed the off button on your alarm as it startled you awake. You had slept like a rock. This bed was far more comfortable than the one in your apartment. 

Actually, everything here was better than your apartment. However, for what you could afford, yours was nice enough. You had gotten a considerable raise and could probably find a new place, but decided against it and to use the extra money on other things. 

  As you peeked out of your door, you could tell that Jack had already left for his meeting. You decided to take his advice and wander the city. You brushed your hair and let it fall around your shoulders. You decided on wearing something a little more casual for your outing. Shorts, a Hyperion t-shirt and a light jacket. To finish the ensemble, some white sneakers. 

You roamed around the city for a about an hour after getting some coffee at a little café. As you continued walking around, your echoband began to ring. You looked down and saw that Jack was calling. You quickly answered. 

  

“Well good morning, cupcake. I see that you’re out. Whatcha doin?” He seemed to be in a good mood. 

  

“I was just walking around the city, got coffee...” 

  

“Ahh...and what do you think?” 

  

“It’s great! I keep forgetting we’re still on Pandora.” You heard him chuckle. “Are...are we leaving soon?” 

  

“Um...yeah. Go ahead and come back up to get your stuff. We’ll head back to Helios.” 

  

“Yes sir, be right there!” You clicked out of the call and made your way back to the apartment. 

  

Jack was lying back on one of the couches, reading something on an Echo device. He looked up as you closed the door behind you. You noticed his eyes scan over you. A corner of his lips rose up into a half smile. “Nice outfit. The shoes are a nice touch.” You couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, but he didn’t sound sarcastic - so you took the compliment with a small smile and went to gather your things. 

   The two of you took a similar shuttle back to Helios and then fast traveled to Jack’s office. You now felt rather under dressed for work. Jack went back to his office to continue working and you began to catch up on what you had missed. 

You had the next two days off and spent them with Emily. 

  The next couple of weeks of work had Jack rather annoyed. Tediore was still trying to pull through the lawsuit and wouldn’t give him a straight answer. Eventually they agreed to sending a representative for a meeting with Jack. 

  

**Two weeks have passed since leaving Opportunity...and Pandora.**

  

  Nearly at the end of the day - a small man with glasses stepped out of the elevator into your office area. You stood up from your chair and greeted him. 

“Good morning, sir. You must be the representative from Tediore, Mr. Manning?” The man nodded back with a forced smile. “Your meeting will be taking place in the boardroom. I’ll escort you there.” You smiled politely and sent Jack a quick message letting him know the man had arrived. The board room was on the floor below. Down several long hallways away from the Hub of Heroism - so that if meetings got...loud...not as many people would hear them. You showed the man to the room and held the door open for him as he walked in - with no thanks given. 

  

“Where is Jack?” The man snapped, looking around the empty room. 

  

“He’s on his way, sir. He told me to notify him once you arrived, and I already have.” You smiled your best helpful secretary smile. Over the years, you had perfected a natural looking fake smile to men and women like him. The ones who didn’t really care if it was faked or not, but if you didn’t do it they’d have your job or worse. 

The man huffed and took a seat at the long, empty table. “Can I get you anything while you wait, sir? Jack should be here soon.” 

  

The man shook his head while scrolling through something on his echo. “No. I’m fine. Thanks.” 

  

“Of course, sir.” You smiled politely again and stepped out of the room, closing the heavy doors behind you. You walked down the hallway while looking down at your echo. You began typing a message to Jack. Letting him know the impatient man was now in the boardroom. As you rounded a corner you slammed into someone causing them to drop an Echo device. You quickly crouched down to pick it up for them, and noticed their shoes. Sneakers. Jack’s sneakers. You looked up, and sure enough...it was your boss. Smirking down at you. 

  

“You gotta watch where you’re going, Cupcake.” He held his hand out to help you up from your crouched position. You took his hand and he pulled you up. You noticed a few people standing around, watching. Jack noticed as well. “I didn’t know that I paid you people to stand around and gawk instead of doing your goddamned jobs!” His voice was loud and powerful. The people seemed to fall over themselves trying to continue on as quickly as possible. He sighed and looked back to you. “Idiots. You alright?” 

  

You nodded back. “Yes, and I’m sorry. I was actually trying to send you a message...to let you know that Mr. Manning, the representative, seems pretty impatient.” 

  

Jack scoffed with a small smile appearing on his lips. “I should just make him wait longer, but I guess I won’t.” He sighed and took the echo device as you handed it back to him. You stepped out of his way and made your way back up to your desk. 

  

Over an hour went by as your worked on little tasks. Eventually, you heard the elevator whirr to life and looked up. You began to hear voices. The elevator opened and out walked a very angry looking Jack, followed by a ranting Mr. Manning. Jack stopped walking and turned to the man in front of your desk. “I said to get a meeting date with my assistant, and I will get back to you!” Jacks voice was loud and caused you to jump a bit. You could see his hand resting on his gun holster. 

“This is ridiculous! I came here today to make a proposal and get an answer!” Manning snapped back. You could practically see the fumes rising off of Jack. This wasn’t good. You stood up from your desk and rushed between the two men, facing Mr. Manning. 

“Sir, sir please.” You heard Jack turn and storm back towards his office. “You won’t get anything other than a bullet from him if you continue to anger him. Let me go calm him down, and I’ll come back to you with an answer.” You smiled politely as you tried to calm him. 

The man relaxed his chest. “Fine. But make it quick.” he snapped and waved you away with his hand. 

You could feel even your level of annoyance with this man rising. You put on your best polite face and calmed your voice. “I don’t really think you’re in any position to make demands...sir.” 

His eyes snapped back to yours. You smiled and turned towards Jack’s office. 

  

You slowly stepped inside of his office. You saw him glance up, notice that it was just you and look back down at his desk. You made your way up to him and came around the desk next to him. You sat down on the corner and noticed his eyes make their way to your thighs, linger for a few seconds and return to his echo. Sitting this way made your skirt inch up a bit, unintentionally, of course. 

“Want to talk about it?” You asked after a few moments of silence. You watched your tone, you knew he was quite angry, and it was a good idea to not irritate him further. He closed what he was looking at and leaned back in his chair. His eyes were closed as he took in a deep breath and let it back out. 

“They’re trying to keep as much of their company as they can, while still selling out. This asshole has no idea how to propose a good offer, and he thinks I’m going to give him an answer today? Idiot. They always send idiots.” 

You slid off of his desk and stood next to his chair. “You still seem pretty stressed. Are your dopamine injectors not working?” 

  

He let out a small chuckle. “Yeah, they’re working. Just not enough.” You relaxed a bit once you heard him chuckle. It was amazing sometimes how quick his mood could change. 

  

“Well maybe this help relieve some stress...” you placed your hands on the back of his neck where it meets the shoulders and began pressing your fingers into the muscles. You felt him tense up and his eyes opened. 

  

“Um..cupcake? What are you doing?” He asked with a tone of amusement and confusion. 

  

“I thought a little massage might help as well. It always helps me. Do you want me to stop?” You began wondering if touching him was a bit out of bounds. 

  

His head shook slightly and he chuckled. “No. You thought right. That actually feels really good.” 

  

You felt his muscles begin to relax, still feeling the firmness of them. His skin was soft. You massaged for a few more minutes before pulling away. Your hands had begun to ache, but you didn’t let him know that. He stretched his neck and shoulders. “Anything else I can do to help, sir?” You asked, watching the muscles in his arms bulge as he stretched. 

He finished his stretching and looked over at you. He was about eye level with you while he sat in his chair, maybe still an inch or so taller. A smirk appeared on his lips. “You could kiss me. That usually helps relieve some stress.” 

Your eyes widened with surprise at his words. He began smiling and let out a few chuckles, before looking back down at his echo. 

“Hahaha....your face...ah, that was good.” 

You straightened your back and cleared your throat. “Is that an order, sir?” 

He glanced up at you still smiling. 

“No. It’s not an order.” He let out a quiet laugh and returned his gaze to his echo again. 

Your thoughts began racing around his words. You had wanted to kiss him again, since your small kiss a couple of weeks ago. “ _What’s the worst that could happen_?” You thought to yourself. “ _Go for it! Just do it!_ ” your thoughts screamed at you. 

“Well in that case..” you leaned over and turned his face to yours, pushing your lips against his. In a quick, fluid motion you felt him pick you up and stand - placing you on top of his desk. One of his hands wrapped around the back of your head the other on your lower back, holding you against him. His lips became intertwined with yours as he deepened the kiss. You could taste him now. His tongue caressing yours, while his fingers gripped you tightly. Your arms wrapped around him and you could feel the muscles in his back. You let your legs pull him even closer to you and hold him there. He didn’t seem to object, as his kissing became even more passionate. You could hear his breathing becoming heavier, realizing yours had as well. Your fingers dug into his back and you heard a small moan build in his chest. Your heart began pounding even harder at the incredibly sexy noise. His lips kept coming back to yours for a deeper kiss after each much-needed breath of air. 

Just as the kissing was getting more intense, the doors to Jack’s office flung open and heavy footfalls could be heard. “I have been waiting long enou-“ Jack immediately pulled away from you, looking up to see who had just burst into his office. You quickly looked over your shoulder to see the man frozen as he saw what he had interrupted...and Jack’s face. He slowly backed out and closed the doors. You heard Jack take a deep breath in. 

“I’ll be right back.” He growled as he stepped around the desk and stormed towards the doors. 

You sat quietly for a moment, listening. You heard the man make a frightened noise. “ _He’s going to kill_ _him!_ ” you thought as you hopped off of his desk. You slid out of your heels and ran to the doors, pressing your ear to their surface to hear better. 

  

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please! I’ll just wait until you call me back with an answer! There’s no rush! And I didn’t see anything! I swear! Please put me down!” His voice was noticeably shaking and sounded strained, and you swore you could hear the heels of his shoes hitting against the wall. 

  

You then heard Jack’s voice growl back at the man. “Let  _me_  make  _you_  a promise, dickhead. You annoy me one more time or if I hear anything going around about my assistant and what you just saw... I will drop you from this company.” 

  

“Yes, Jack! Of course! I don’t want to quit working with Hyperion, Tediore needs this partnership!” 

  

You heard Jack let out a deep and animal like chuckle. “Oh no, no, no, kiddo. I don’t mean that. I will drop you from Helios and watch you suffocate as you slowly fall to Pandora’s surface.” 

  

You heard the man gasp and fall back to the floor. Jack must have been holding him up against the wall by his collar. The elevator dinged and you heard Manning scramble into it. 

  

Jack opened the door, pushing you back and catching you off guard a bit. His brow arched. 

“Eavesdropping?” He walked past you and headed back to his desk. You followed behind, glad that your listening in didn’t seem to fuel his anger even more. 

  

“Well...I... I was making sure you didn’t try to kill him.” you softly stuttered as Jack returned to his chair. 

  

His brow arched again, questioningly. 

“...and why did you not want me to kill him?” 

  

You let out a small sigh. You didn’t want to anger him, but he needed to hear a voice of reason. “Because...if you killed him your chances of getting this partnership with Tediore would go down significantly. Plus...if you had killed him right then and there... I would have to clean his blood and brains off of my desk... but, um... mostly the first reason.” 

  

Jack began laughing. “Nah, you wouldn’t have had to clean anything up, babe. I would’ve called someone else to. I wouldn’t make you do that. But you are right about the first part...and that’s the only reason I didn’t.” 

  

“Well...I think you got the message across either way. He sounded quite scared.” You blushed a bit realizing you just admitted to eavesdropping. Jack’s brow raised with a small smirk. You licked your lips...you could still taste him. You cleared your throat and bent over to pick up your shoes. “Well...I’m going to get back to work now.” 

You turned and headed for the doors. 

  

“Thanks for the massage, pumpkin.” You heard Jack chuckle. You turned and gave him a small smile before closing the door. Halting him from seeing you begin to blush. 

                                                                                      ♦♦♦ 

 

For the rest of the night you couldn’t get that moment out of your thoughts. The way his lips felt, the tightness of his grip - holing you against him, and the way he tasted. Even just the memory made your head spin. 

“This is it. I’ve completely fallen for him.” You spoke out loud to yourself as you slumped over the edge of your bed and ran your fingers through the carpet, drawing little lines. “I should’ve known this would happen. From day one I’ve just been slowly succumbing to his charm.” You let out a small groan. “I always said that he wasn’t appealing to me...and he wasn’t! I wasn’t lying to myself... I just... I guess it just took actually meeting him...and getting to know him more...” you rolled over to your back, now looking at the room upside down. You stayed in this position for a few minutes until the blood began rushing to your head. You pulled yourself back on to the bed and slid under your comforter.       

  You closed your eyes and let out a deep breath. Instantly his face appeared, then the feel of his body, and that sound he had made. Your mind began fantasizing about what else would get him to make that noise. Before you knew it, you were fully turned on - thinking about Handsome Jack. You slid your hand down your stomach and into your underwear. You were already significantly wet. Your fingers began rubbing your sensitive little button. You began picturing his large hands rubbing you there, sliding a finger in and out of you. Kissing your neck as the weight of his body held you under him. You began running your fingers through his hair, bucking your hips up to him every time his finger plunged back inside of you. Faster and faster and harder until- ...blissful climax. Slowly your legs relaxed and the warm burst across your body dissipated. You opened your eyes as you tried to steady your breathing. Your heart pounded in your ears and your swollen clit throbbed. This was the first time you had touched yourself to thoughts of your boss. But boy did it do the trick. You allowed yourself the pleasure a couple more times, before you drifted off to sleep. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading this far! I know it’s pretty long so far!  
> & for anyone who’s waiting for the smutty parts, don’t worry. It’s coming. 
> 
> Also, thank you for the kudos! Comments are welcome too!


	6. An Invitation

**About 2 weeks later.**

The last two weeks had gone rather well. Tediore had finally admitted they couldn’t pull themselves out of the lawsuit and agreed to Jack’s proposal. He now owned their entire gun line. He planned on making some safer changes to the exploding reload action so that this legal issue didn’t pop up again. Tediore’s (former) CEO seemed alright with working with Jack. You had wondered if it was just because he was at least alive and still getting paid. Jack had allowed him to remain running the majority of the company, but in the end - whatever Jack says, goes.  
Because of the Tediore deal going in his favor, Jack had been in a consistently pretty good mood. He had also not mentioned the kiss and everything seemed the same between the two of you. Well, kind of. You had begun to notice that hiding your growing feelings for him was rather difficult when near him. You had caught yourself smiling with him more, becoming lost in him while sitting in on the meetings he held, smelling his cologne when he was near or walked passed your desk - probably talking in too deep of inhale to smell him more, and getting that small flutter in your chest when he would say something flirtatious to you. You held you ground, though. Not giving away your inner thoughts. You couldn’t let him know that he had changed your mind about him after only a few months.  
So, you would admire from a distance and hope he didn’t catch on. Plus, you were a tiny bit afraid of your growing feelings. Handsome Jack was a man to be feared by most - but for some reason, you weren’t as scared of him as you probably should be.

•••••••••••  
Today was the beginning of a new week. While getting ready for your day, you began thinking about your weekend. During your 2 days off, you had spent time with Emily. She had gotten you to admit to having feelings for Jack and surprisingly didn’t rub it in your face. After learning of the two small-ish kisses - she did up the stakes of her bet. The thought of this made you chuckle as you brushed your teeth. She wasn’t going to win, Jack didn’t see you as more than an attractive secretary.

 

You got into your office and sat your things down behind your desk. A little blinking light indicated that you had a message on your desk’s echo. You decided to check it before taking Jack his coffee.

_Dear Hyperion Employee,  
If you’re receiving this, you hold a high enough position to be invited to this years annual Helios & Hyperion hosted event. Lucky you._

_~A Ball For Them All~  
An annual party for the companies to mingle and see how much better, we here at Hyperion are._

_If planning on attending,_  
_Please follow instructions in attached file._  
[Partyinv.313]  
  
An invitation to the years biggest event? You had heard of this party every year and marveled at the pictures that had been taken at them. The dresses, the food, the decorations! It was quite the fancy party.  
“They must have sent it to the wrong echo...right?” you mumbled to yourself before letting out a sigh.

You brought Jack his coffee and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.  
“What’s wrong, pumpkin?” Jack asked, pulling you out of your thoughts. You looked up to see him blow on his coffee before taking a sip - looking at you with a raised brow.

“I got an odd message this morning. It was an invitation...”

“To the ball thing? Yeah they have one every year. I’m not in charge of it, someone else handles all of that. I’m just expected to show up.” He chucked before taking another drink.

“Yes, but...I feel like it was sent to the wrong person...”

“Why? You’re _my_ assistant. Of course you’d be invited. In terms of knowing what’s going on with this company, you’re up there pretty damn high, Cupcake.” He gave you a little smile. “Besides, they don’t mess up who they send those invitations to. Not just anyone can get in.”  
You smiled a little at this information, excited for the chance to get to go to one of these things.  
“Sooo... you gonna go?” Jack asked, giving you a smirk.

You shrugged your shoulders slightly. “I’m not sure. I mean, I’d love to get all dressed up and finally see what one of these parties is like, but...” you paused.

“But....?” Jack asked, motioning with his hand for you to continue your sentence.

“Well, I’m not sure I’d fit in...or have anyone to talk to..”

“Nah, babydoll...find yourself a nice dress and stand around looking bored. You’ll fit in much better than you think.” he let out a little laugh. “That’s why I haven’t gone in a couple years. Just a bunch of assholes standing around, hoping to one up the other. They all know they’ll never beat me though. I’m the king, baby!” He winked and gave you a smug smile.  
You couldn’t help but smile back at his cocky _kingly_ title.

  
“So you won’t be attending this year either, then?” You asked, keeping the disappointment out of your tone.

  
He shook his head. “Probably not......Don’t let that stop you though. Go, have fun...or whatever. There’s always a lot of free booze there, so that’s a plus.” He added the last bit with a smile before returning to his coffee.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I can always leave if it’s too boring.” You smiled back at him. “Well, I’m going to go start the day.” He nodded back at you and you turned to leave.

 

  
You told Emily all about the invitation to the ball/party during lunch. She immediately pulled out her echo and began looking at dresses for you to get or to try on. “You have to look soon, so that you can get it fitted just right!” She was right. Dresses were always far too long on you. The two of you decided to start looking after work.

  
Once you left for the day, you met up with Emily and headed to the shopping area of Helios. “So! What’s your budget? I know that little raise he gave you, isn’t all that little.” Emily smiled at you and nuzzled you with her elbow as the two of you walked through the store.  
You smiled back and rolled your eyes at her. “I really have no idea yet. If I see something I like, then I’ll decide if I want to buy it. Nothing too extreme though...it needs to be classy, not as much flashy.”

“Psh. Don’t be drab, or Mr. Handsome won’t be impressed!” She said over her shoulder as she sifted through the gowns.

“Oh yeah...I forgot to tell you.” You walked over to her. “He said he won’t be attending....because these events bore him.” You made a disappointed face and Emily seemed to mirror it.

“Wha-? Aw..well that sucks.” Her smile then returned. “Guess you’ll just have to impress all of the other men!” She went back to looking through the dresses.

The store was rather large and the woman who had greeted you claimed that each dress was one of a kind. Which was good, you didn’t want to wear the same as another woman.  
Nearly two hours had gone by. You had tried on a few and liked many, but none stuck out as the one you just had to have. You had been looking in the blacks and dark, classy colors. Then an idea popped into your head. “What if I go for yellow?”

  
Emily stopped in her tracks and turned to face you. “Yellow? You realize that’s a pretty noticeable color right? I thought you wanted black.” She was grinning at your possible color swap.

  
“Yeah. I know...but Hyperion’s color _is_ yellow and I’m the CEO’s secretary. Why not represent Hyperion by wearing a yellow dress?” You smiled back at her with a shrug of your shoulders.  
She grabbed your arm and began quickly walking to the colored dresses. You could tell she was more excited now.  
You began looking through the yellow dresses. After a few, one stuck out to you. You pulled it off the rack and went to try it on. It was an off-the-shoulder, full length, flow-y dress with a high slit. It’s was form fitting up top, but flowed out as you spun around in it. You looked over at Emily to gage her reaction.  
Her eyes were wide and a huge smile was spread across her face. “That is beautiful, (your name)! Do you like it?”

You turned back to the mirror and looked yourself over. “I love it. It’s gorgeous.” You turned back to face her, with a big smile. “And it makes my boobs look amazing!” The two of you burst out laughing as she nodded in agreement.

“You have to get it. Please tell me you’re going to get it.” Emily said as she walked closer. “How much is it?”

You leaned down and pulled the tag up to where you could read it. “$300”

“That’s all?! Oh my gosh! You have to get it!” Emily began hopping in place.

“Yeah...I think I will.” You replied with a big smile as you spun from side to side, watching the dress flow and show off your legs through the slit. “What are the odds I found one I like this much at the first place we came to?”  
You began changing back into your regular clothes.

“That’s what I was thinking! Shame Jack won’t be there to see you in it though.” Emily sighed as the two of you walked to the counter to pay for the dress. “You could always ask him to go with you?!”

“I’m definitely not going to do that. So go ahead and get that idea out of your head.” Emily playfully rolled her eyes back at you.  
  
•

Your fitted dress would take about two weeks to be delivered to you. You had begun to get excited about the party. Emily had offered to have one her man friends be your date for the evening, but you had turned her down. You didn’t mind going alone. You also weren’t sure how long you’d end up staying.

  
At some point in the passed week - while talking with him in his office, Jack had asked if you were definitely going to the party or not. You told him about finding a dress and that you planned on attending. He seemed pleased that you had decided to go.  
  
Your dress arrived at your desk and you couldn’t wait to get home and open it! You hung the dress bag up behind your desk. Eventually, Jack took notice as he walked passed your desk.  
“So, you gonna let me see your dress, pumpkin?” You looked up from your typing to see him smirking at you. Why did he have to be so good looking?

You smugly smiled back at him. “Nope.” You saw his brows raise with surprise.

“No? You’re going to tell _me_ no, kitten?” His expression showed his amusement at your resistance.

“It’s a secret. You’ll just have to wait until after the party, and hope someone gets a picture of me in it.” You kept your smug smile.

He began chuckling. “Alright, if that’s how you want to do this. I’ll wait.” His voice grew low and seductive. “I’m a patient man, and good things take time.” Your eyes sprang back up to his. His were still locked on to you, with his lips in a devilish grin. He winked before turning and heading back to his office.  
You sat still, trying to get your chest...and other parts, to quit tingling. “ _He just had to use the sexy voice_.” You thought to yourself as you began typing again.  
Finally the day ended and you got back to your apartment. You quickly unzipped your dress bag and pulled it out. It was still just as pretty as you remembered. You spent the next half hour spinning around in your dress, before calling Emily and telling her to come over.

“You know how to dance, right?” She asked, sitting on your couch.

“Um....a little....probably not well enough.”

“Well then! We have to teach you how to dance properly!”

“Why?” You let out a laugh. “I’m not going to be dancing with anyone, I imagine. I don’t think I’ll actually personally know anyone there.”

“So what? What if someone does ask you to dance and you make a fool of yourself trying to keep up?”

You let out a sigh. She was right...again. “Alright, fine. Let’s do it!”

The two of you spent the next week, everyday after work learning a couple different dances. The Waltz being the main, of course. The party was in a couple of days. On your day off, so thankfully you would have all day to get ready.


	7. The Party

The day of the party had arrived.

You didn’t start getting ready until about two hours before the invitation’s start time. Emily came over to help you zip up your dress and keep you company while you got ready.

You decided to leave your hair down with a thick wave to it - pulled back and pinned up on one side. Your eye makeup was a bit darker tonight and you went for a dark red stain on your lips. You added some black stoned earrings and matching bracelet. You looked beautiful, even to yourself.   
Emily sat smiling, admiring you as you spun around in your dress. You felt bad that she couldn’t come as well.   
“I wish you could be there. Then I wouldn’t be so nervous.”

She smiled back. “Well, as much as I’d love to get all dolled up and go to one of these. I don’t think I’d like it once I was there. I’m too peppy for these snobs! No offense!” She began laughing.

You chuckled back. “Yeah, sure - haha - none taken! I mean, I’m not really sure I fit in with these people either.”

“Nah, you do a little. You were always meant to be a ‘ _higher up_ ’ Plus...Jack seems to like you enough.”

You smiled back. “Eh, well I don’t know about ‘enough’ He just likes having someone that can actually do their job.” You chuckled out.

Emily smiled back and glanced at the time. “Oh my gosh! You need to get going! The party started nearly 15 minutes ago!”

Your eyes snapped to the time. “Oh shit!” You grabbed your echo band and checked yourself in the mirror one more time. “Will you-“

“I’ll make sure your door is locked when I leave, yes. Now go!”

“Thank you!” You yelled as you ran (as best you could in your heels, thankfully you decided on shortish ones) to the fast travel station.

•

You appeared in a large open room. Many nicely dressed people were standing around and talking.   
“Right over there for security, ma’am.” You heard a voice next to you. Your turned your head to see a guard pointing over to a security checkpoint. “Have to make sure you’re on the list.”

  
You thanked the man and headed that way. After a short line of people, you stood in front of a retina scanner. The light of the scan appeared and a green light dinged somewhere near you. “You’re good to go. Right this way, Miss.” The man running the scanner pointed to another man a few feet away. You walked over to him. “Have to make sure you’re not carrying any weapons. Just walk through this arch, please.” You did as the man instructed and heard a similar ding. The man nodded and pointed you towards some large doors. Two men, on either side greeted you as you walked up to them. Simultaneously, they each opened a door.

You stepped into an enormous open room. Where you stood was a wide walkway that overlooked the ballroom below. Each pillar was wrapped in golden fabric and twinkling lights. Glints of falling golden confetti could be seen falling from the ceiling every few minutes. A large chandelier hung in the middle, eye level with the upper walkway. You noticed a large staircase leading from the walkway to the ballroom. It’s railings also wrapped in golden ribbon and string lights. The decor was absolutely gorgeous. It looked beyond rich. Hyperion definitely knew how to throw a good looking party.   
You made your way over to the staircase. Holding the banister as you slowly made your way down. You scanned over the sea of faces that had arrived before you and were now mingling below. No one stuck out as familiar. Once you reached the bottom step, you moved to the side of the stairs to stand and watch, out of the way.

The room was full of wonderfully dressed people. Everyone looked wealthy. You stood, twirling your thumbs around each other as you watched people walk by. You noticed a few couples dancing in the middle of the room. It seemed everyone gathered around the large exterior part to give room for anyone who _did_ want to dance. The music was nice and sounded classical.

  
You felt someone brush your right arm and you quickly turned your head to see who it was. No one was there. You turned your head to the left just as you felt someone’s hand glide down your left arm and take hold of your hand.   
You gasped at who you saw.

“Jack?” Your eyes were wide with genuine surprise. He smiled back at you and leaned down to kiss your hand. “I....I thought you said you weren’t coming?”

He let go of your hand, continuing to smile. “I wasn’t, well I hadn’t planned on it.” You watched as he shamelessly eyeballed your figure in your dress. Looking from head to toe.

“Then why are you here..?” You asked with a look of confusion.

He looked back up to your eyes and gave you an incredibly handsome smirk. “Because I knew you’d be here.” He clasped your hand again and rose it above you. “Spin around. Slowly.” You did as he told and slowly spun for him. He lowered your hand, letting it go. “Look at you. All done up in Hyperion yellow. _My favorite_. It looks good on you, Princess.” His gaze returned to your eyes and he brushed a strand of hair out of your face. “You look stunning.” His smile, along with his compliments were almost too much for you to stop yourself from smiling like an idiot.   
You smiled back at him, and noticed his attire. A completely black, _very_ nicely fitted, tuxedo and a yellow bow tie. God, he looked good. Your smile grew a bit. “Thank you...you look..very nice as well. We um...we seem to match...” You motioned towards his bow tie with your eyes.

He smiled back, giving you a wink. “So we do.” He held out his hand. “Dance with me.”

Your breath hitched in your chest. You could feel your heart beginning to pound even harder. You slowly reached forward and took his hand. He escorted you to the middle of the room and spun you out on to the dance floor. The skirt of your dress flowed out around you. Showing off your legs. He pulled you close to him and placed his open hand on your waist. The two of you began moving in unison to the music. “You know how to dance?” You asked with surprise in your tone. You saw his lips curve into a smirk. His eyes never leaving yours.   
“Of course, I’m the king of this place! Gotta show ‘em how it’s done!” He turned the two of you around, as he chuckled. He was very good at dancing. You weren’t too sure why this surprised you, but it definitely did.   
You began noticing eyes on the pair of you. You were dancing with _the_ Handsome Jack after all. People were probably wondering who the hell you were, if they didn’t already know.   
“Um sir?” You spoke up, returning your gaze to his.

“We’re not a work, sweetheart. We’re at a party. Call me Jack. Actually, just call me Jack at work too. That whole, sir thing...nah.”

You cleared your throat quietly. “Alright...well, aren’t you worried about what people will think? That you’re fraternizing with your secretary? There _are_ many eyes on us.”

Jack spun the two of you around and dipped you down, he leaned in - his face nearly close enough for yours to touch. “I really don’t give a damn what any of these people think.” He held you there for a couple of seconds - staring at you with his heterochromic eyes before pulling you back up and spinning you into his arms. Your back pressed up against his chest before he spun you back you out.  
The music began to fade into another song and he led the two of you off of the dance floor. People parted to make way as Jack walked near them. The power he held was extraordinary. You could hear whispers as the two of you walked through.

_Who is she?_

_Handsome Jack actually came this year? Who’s that he was dancing with?_

_Ugh. She’s so lucky!_

_& etc._

Jack brought the two of you over to a champagne table. A rather large champagne table. He handed you a glass and clinked the rim with his.   
“So, cupcake. You’re not waiting on anyone, are you?” His brows were raised questioningly.

You giggled a little. Did he honestly think you had come with someone? “No...I’m here alone.”

The corners of his lips pulled up into a grin. “No you’re not. I’m here.”

You smiled back, taking a sip of your champagne. Damn. This was some good champagne. Definitely expensive stuff. “Then I suppose I should ask as well... Are you waiting for someone? I figured you’d be here with a woman on each arm.” You spoke before thinking. You instantly hoped your snide remark didn’t anger him.

“Oh hoho...ouch.” He smiled back at you. “Nope, there’s only one woman I would’ve asked to join me tonight, and she’s already here.”

_Another woman was here that Jack was interested in_? You felt your stomach sink. You knew he couldn’t possibly have grown feelings for you, like you had, but still. Hearing him talk about another woman directly in front of you stung a bit. Your eyes instinctively looked down at your glass. “Oh...” you tried to keep your voice from sounding disappointed.

He began chuckling. You looked back up to him, confused.   
Sure, he definitely wasn’t the nicest man in the galaxy...but he wasn’t usually rude or mean to you. Now he seemed to be laughing at your obvious discomfort of hearing about a mystery woman.   
“You know for being as smart as you are, and from what I’ve seen, you’re pretty friggin’ smart. You are absolutely clueless sometimes.” He tried to keep himself from laughing more. “I’m referring to you, pumpkin!”   
A flutter ran through your chest. You looked back down at your glass. A little embarrassed by your jump to the wrong conclusion. You smiled a little at the thought of him wanting to come with you. “Come on, you’re _my_ date now, and I’m going to show you a good time.” His lips curved into another devilishly handsome smirk as he held his arm out for you to take. You couldn’t help but smile up him as you wrapped your hand around his firm upper arm.   
Jack walked you around to several people and mingled with each for a bit. Always introducing you as (y/n), and _not_ as his secretary. You weren’t sure if he was doing that for you...or himself. You couldn’t really blame him if he was. Why would he want anyone to know that he was here with his secretary?

  
The two of you danced a few more times, mingled with old men talking about guns, and company things. Ate hors d’oeuvres and drank champagne, and danced throughout the night. Your cheeks ached slightly from smiling so much.   
You couldn’t help but wonder what Jack was up to. He was nice enough to you on a daily basis, and always said flirtatious things, but that’s just who he is. This was different. If you didn’t know him as well as you do, you would mistake his demeanor with legitimate affection. 

  
You started to notice the crowd in the ballroom thinning a bit. Some people had left already and a few more were leaving every minute or so. It was getting late after all.   
  
Jack had kept you on his arm or near him the entire night. You had to keep telling yourself that it was just for appearances. Handsome Jack couldn’t show up to one of these parties without a date, and you were readily available.

Even so, this night had been amazing. Seeing Jack in his prime, being the King of Hyperion, and being the one on his arm was magical. He had joked and talked with you every time the two of you were away from the groups of old men. He definitely made you feel like he was there _with_ you. You couldn’t help but smile and blush every time you’d glance at him and see him already looking at you, or when he’d twirl you to watch your dress flow around you. He had also demanded the two of you pose for pictures. “ _You’ll be on the front page, baby! With Handsome Goddamn Jack_!” He really was arrogant when he wanted to be, but you couldn’t deny that his confidence and large ego was still quite attractive to you.

Eventually, the two of you made your way back upstairs and into the room with the security checks. The poor men working the check points were still there, checking people back into the ballroom.   
Jack pulled you over to the fast travel stations.   
“I have to head back up to my office to get some things off of my computer before the weekends over, annnnd I already know I’m not going to want to get them tomorrow. Care to join me?” He asked with a raised brow.

You thought it was a little odd of him to invite you along. It was _just_ his office. The same office you saw nearly everyday, but you honestly didn’t want him to leave yet. You cursed yourself for growing even more attached. “Alright..” you nodded back to him.   
He held his arm out to allow you to squeeze in front of him. He typed in the code and you were off.


	8. Ecstasy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! So this chapter is where it heats up. So if you’re not interested in reading that, go ahead and skip. There will be more scenes in following chapters that you may not be able to skip over as easily though.  
> You did read the “smutty” tag, so you knew what you were getting into ;)
> 
> Hope you enjoy  
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated!

You opened your eyes to your dark office. All the lights were out. You had never been in here this late. Same office or not, it was kind of exciting being in here after dark...and with Jack.  
“Come on cupcake, it shouldn’t be too long.”  
Jack headed to his office, and you followed behind. His office was dark as well, still lightly illuminated by Elpis’s glow.  
He sat down at his desk and began typing away at his computer. Instead of sitting down in the chair that you always sat in, you walked around the back of his desk to stand in front of the massive window.  
Elpis looked beautiful, even with its scar from Zarpedon firing the eye of Helios at it repeatedly. You had never just stood and looked at it for awhile.  
After a few minutes, you noticed Jack come and stand next to you. He stood silently for a moment, looking out at Elpis as well. “It’s beautiful from up here, isn’t it?” You nodded back, with a nostalgic smile.

“Yes...it is. I was down there when the laser kept firing. It was my first year of living on the moon. We thought we were all going to die...and then it just...stopped.” You looked over to him to see him looking at you. “We were eventually told that you had stopped it.”

He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.  
“Eh, I had some help, but yeah.” He began to chuckle a little. “You know, you’ve been in my office countless times and I’ve never seen you just stare out of that window before.”

You let out a small chuckle. “Because I’m usually focused on what you’re talking to me about.”

He began laughing. “So you’re going to tell me that even with an _entire moon_! Out there behind me - you’re more interested in me?” His smirk showed how amused he was.

You rolled your eyes playfully. “I didn’t say that! I _said_ that I focus on what you’re telling me!”

He continued laughing and nodded his head. “Uh huh. Sure, pumpkin.” Giving you a wink as he smiled at you. He walked back and leaned against his desk. “So...did you enjoy yourself tonight? Party wasn’t too boring for ya?”

“Honestly? This was probably the best night of my life, sir...I mean, Jack.” You smiled, feeling slightly embarrassed at calling him by name.

“What? Really? Oh sweetheart...You thought tonight was fun? .... _I can rock your world._ ” His lips curved into a seductive smirk.

Your breathing stopped and your heart began pounding. You shyly looked back out of the window..trying to keep your smile small and not too obvious. You heard him chuckle behind you.  
“Alright alright, don’t get all shy on me now. Hmm...let’s see. What was your favorite part of the night?”

You turned to face him. You began smiling at recalling your favorite part. “Dancing.”

He stood up from his leaning position. With raised brows and a slight smirk. “Oh really?” He pushed a button on his echo band and soft music began playing throughout the large room. He took a couple of steps towards you. “Well then why stop?”

“What do you mean?” You looked at him quizzically. Was he really wanting to dance again?

“Look around you, baby. You couldn’t ask for a better view or audience” his lips still smiling deliciously.

You glanced at the moon and back to him. “But there’s no one else here...?”

He took your hand and pulled you close to him. “Exactly.” His voice was low and sexy. You could feel and hear your heart pounding.

He began slowly dancing with you in front of the moon. His eyes watching you as he retained his slight smirk. Your thoughts went to all of the eyes that the two of you had on you all night, and what he had said. “Do you really not care what people were thinking about me being with you tonight? You didn’t tell anyone that I was your secretary...”

“Because that’s not who you are. That’s just your job title. And besides, people tend to think you got and keep this job from getting on your knees for me..” his brows bounced up and a smirk formed as if he was seemingly entertaining the idea of you being on your knees for him. Your eyes widened and you raised a brow. He began laughing. “I’m not saying that you have, just that, you know... that’s how these assholes tend to think. Everyone either kills or fucks their way to the top. Not many are actually genuine, like you.” His eyes were still locked on to yours. “Do you want me to introduce you as my secretary instead? You want me to treat you like you’re nothing more than another brainless monkey that works for me?”

You looked down a little and shook your head. “No...”

Jack stopped dancing and let go of you. You looked back up at him. His eyes continued staring into yours. “Then what do you want, (y/n)?”

Your knees weakened at hearing your name pass through his lips. Your brows furrowed at his question, unsure of what he meant.  
“W-what do you mean?”

“What do you want, right now?” His face was nearly expressionless, except for one slightly raised brow.

You weren’t sure how to answer him and it didn’t help that nearly every one of your thoughts were screaming for him to just hold you again and say something to make you smile. You saw him tilt his head, waiting for your answer. The glow from Elpis illuminated his face, making his enchanting eyes shine.   
“You..” you mumbled quietly as the word accidentally fell from your lips.

His lips curved slightly. “Can’t hear ya, cupcake. You’re gonna have to say that again, a little louder this time.” He winked as his smirk slowly grew.  
Your heart was pounding so loudly, you could barely hear your screaming thoughts anymore. You tried to think of something else to say, but nothing else would come to your mind. You lifted your eyes up to meet his gaze. His piercing eyes bore into you. “I’m waiting, Cupcake.”

You took in a quick breath. “You...”

His lips formed the most wickedly seductive smile you had ever seen on him, his eyelids lowered, and he let out a deep, animal like chuckle.  
“It’s about damn time.”

Instantly, he grabbed you and lifted you up, setting you back down on his desk. Your mind went blank, trying to catch what was happening. His mouth went straight for your neck and began kissing down your skin, biting gently here and there. You let out a small whimper. His hot breath and the wetness of his mouth began to instantly drive your mind wild. One of his hands came up to cup the back of your head as he continued ravishing your neck. You could feel him leaving little marks as he went. Temporarily branding you as _his_. He pulled away and looked you in the eyes. “Is this what you want?” His words were breathy and low. You nodded back, unable to actually speak. His smirk grew. “I told you that I’d get you to tell me one day. I have to admit, it took much longer than I thought it would. You’ve kept me waiting and wanting, and I’m _more_ than ready now.”

He pressed his lips into yours, gaining entrance with his tongue. He tasted amazing again. He kissed with such intensity this time. You instantly melted. You brought your hands up to his upper arms, lightly tightening your grip. Feeling his firm muscles.

His breathing became heavier and he pulled away. He unbuttoned his tuxedo and pulled the jacket off, letting it fall to the floor. He immediately came back and began kissing down your neck as he leaned you back and pulled you closer, wrapping your legs around him. With one hand holding your thighs, the other pinned your arms above you. You let out another whimper as you felt his grip tighten. You enjoyed his firm grip, his full control of you. He seemed to like your reaction, and returned his lips to yours.

He stood back up, pulling you up with him, letting your arms drop back down. His hand cradling your head while still devouring your kiss. You felt his hand move to your back and slowly unzip your dress. His open hand slipped the thick straps down your arms, revealing your bare breasts. He pulled away form your lips and looked down at your naked chest. You enjoyed that he couldn’t resist looking. His lips curved into a smile and his eyes flashed back up to yours. “Mmmm” a deep low growl came from his throat as he admired the sight of your bare chest. He pushed you back down on the desk, allowing both of his hands to cup and feel your breasts. His large hands held them perfectly, and felt _so_ good as he squeezed. He leaned down and began slowly kissing down your chest and breasts. You gasped at the touch of his lips as he met your nipple and pulled it into his mouth. He began sucking and nibbling - teasing the other nipple with his fingers before switching. You couldn’t help but moan, feeling his warm mouth around your nipples. The feeling of his hands as they explored and caressed you skin. With almost every moan or gasp you uttered, you could hear him chuckle or feel his lips curved into a smile. He was enjoying making you want more of him. 

You could feel wetness between your thighs, your sex practically throbbing for him to touch it. His hand on your thigh was so titillatingly close. You could feel yourself squirming beneath his hold.  
He stopped and stood up. He began unbuttoning his black buttondown shirt and slid it off - then pulling his undershirt over his head. The muscles in his arms flexed as they rose over his head. You could watch this man undress over and over and never get tired of seeing it. His chest was toned and strong. His stomach and side muscles tightened with each heavy breath - lowering into a chiseled V leading down to a large bulge hidden by his pants. You couldn’t help but stare at him as you held yourself up on your elbows. You wanted him, badly. He smirked as he watched your eyes slowly scan him. He stepped closer and began pulling the skirt of your dress up and over your head. You felt slightly self conscious sitting on his desk in nothing but black lacy underwear, but that quickly eased as your saw the pleased look on his face.

He let out a low noice as he admired. “Goddamn, kitten. You are so fucking sexy” His hand moved up your leg and rubbed the outside of your underwear with his thumb. “These are nice and all...but I think I’d like them more if they were on the floor.” He smiled devilishly as he began to pull them down your thighs. You lifted your legs up for him as he pulled the lacy undergarment up and over your feet - tossing them behind him.  
He wore an extremely seductive smirk, his eyes piercing, and few stray hairs falling from their usual place. God. He looked beyond sexy. He stood for a moment, eyeballing your naked body on his desk. His smirk only growing wider as he stepped forward. You began throbbing with anticipation. You wanted this man - this powerful being so badly, your body was aching for him.  
You felt his fingers touch your sensitive skin. You gasped as your body jolted at his contact.  
He begin to lightly rub down the lips of your vulva. Your hips began to rise, pushing his fingers against you more. “Ah ah...” you opened your eyes to see him smirking down at you. “I’m the one in charge here, baby.” You felt your body began to ache for his touch. His grip tightened on your thigh, making you lower your hips. He definitely had full control, and by now, you realized that you would probably do whatever he said.  
His thumb began circling your swollen clit, making you twitch under his hold. You saw the pleasure on his face growing. He liked making your muscles dance for him. You felt another finger began rubbing your opening. Your hips instinctively raised. His grip tightened again and your eyes fluttered up to his. His brow was raised, lips slightly parted as his tongue rolled over them. You felt your pelvis begin to tingle at the sight of his tongue. Imagining the magic he could do with it. He seemed to notice as his grin grew into showing his sharp canines. “Oh, I see...” he kept his hand on your sex as he leaned down next to your head. He began kissing up your neck as you let out a quiet moan. He stopped at your ear - his voice low and seductive. “You want my tongue, don’t ya kitten?” You gasped as your breathing stopped. A tiny whimper escaping you. A devilish chuckle came from him as he stood back up. “You’re just gonna have to wait for that. My fingers haven’t had their fun yet.” He winked as he slid a finger deeply into you. You moaned out at the sudden pleasure - arching your back slightly. He pulled it back out and rubbed your juices over your aching clit. The wet sensation tripled the sensitivity making your pelvis and legs twitch. You let out a breathy moan as he slowly slid his finger over your opening. “You’re very wet, pumpkin. Am I turning you on?” His eye lids were heavy with seduction, and his smile...That damn smile would make you do anything at this point. You nodded back. “Oh, no no. I wanna hear you say it.” His voice low and demanding. His thumb began rubbing your clit again. Your eyes fluttered shut at the intense pleasure. “Say it....” His thumb stopped rubbing. “...or I’ll stop.” You opened your eyes to meet his piercing blue and green stare. His smile growing.  
Your clit throbbing for him to continue. 

 “Y-yes...yes..” you breathily managed to say.  
His eyes lit up - a corner of his lips rising, to show a canine.  
“Oooooo....I like the way you make that sound..” his voice low and breathy...yet still so powerful.  
His finger slid back into you. You let out another whimper, biting your bottom lip. He started slowly- curving his finger up to rub against your upper wall. Then inserting another finger. You let out a moan as his large fingers stretched your entrance. “You’re really tight, kitten. Its going to feel so good once I’m _really_ inside of you.” Your eyes fluttered open at his words and he let out a dark chuckle. 

He was only using a couple fingers right now and it already felt amazing. You could feel yourself coming undone, tightening around him. You could only begin to imagine how good his-... Your thoughts were cut short as he interrupted them. “Ah ah ah...don’t get too ahead of yourself, Cupcake. It’s more fun to make it last longer.” He winked and pushed deeper inside of you, causing any thoughts you may have had to disappear. Your eyes rolled back as your hips began moving along with his motions. He seemed to allow this, indicated by a low approving sound. His noise aroused you even more. You began to feel a familiar sensation slowly growing. The muscles in your legs slowly began to tighten. You could feel your walls tightening around Jack’s fingers again. You felt his fingers slide out you, the feeling retreating and pulsing in your abdomen. You looked up at him with wide eyes - trying to control your heavy breathing.  “You think I’m going to let you cum this soon? Ohhoho, kitten. I’m just getting started.” His grin grew, showing off his gorgeous smile before putting his wet fingers into his mouth - closing his lips around them. He pulled them back out and licked his lips. “Mmm...you taste incredibly sweet, cupcake.”  
You let out a small groan, watching him lick your juices off of his fingers. He knelt down and slowly kissed your clit before glancing back up at you with gorgeous, seductive eyes.

You gasped at the feeling of his lips against your swollen, throbbing button. The sight of his face between your legs, the feeling of his warm breath on your sensitive skin - you had _the_ Handsome Jack on his knees. 

You felt his tongue lick your dripping opening and slowly make its way up to your clit. He flicked it with his tongue causing you to buck your hips. You felt his smile grow against your skin. His hands wrapped tightly around your legs as he pulled you closer to his mouth. He began licking and sucking. Devouring you. You bit your lip as the pleasure being given from his warm, wet mouth grew. You let out soft moans as you felt his tongue slide in and out you. You let your hands come down and began to run your fingers through his hair. You expected it to be stiff with pomade, but it was soft. The tightness of his grip increased on your thighs, amplifying the pleasures. You felt your climax building. The throbbing feeling growing in your pelvis. Your legs began to stiffen and your fingers began to to grip his head. Jack took notice and slid a finger into you, while still pleasuring you with his tongue. The feeling sent you overboard. Your climax burst over your body causing your back to arch, your fingers grasping hold of his hair.  
“Oh...oh my... ah!” You moaned out loudly as the incredible climax wrecked your body. 

  
You could still feel his finger inside of you, his mouth savoring every drop of your orgasm. Your head spun with the fantastic sensation, your only thought being how amazing it felt. The feeling slowly began to fade and your body started to relax. You closed your eyes as you tried to focus on breathing. You felt his finger slide out as he stood back up. You opened your eyes to see him grinning as he wiped his chin with his discarded shirt. “Got your breath back yet?” You nodded back, even though you were still breathing rather heavily - not really able to talk at the moment. His grin grew. “Well you’re about to lose it again. Screaming my name tends to do that.” He winked as he held eye contact with you. Your eyes widened at his...threat? Promise? Either way, you hoped it was true. You had a feeling this man could easily make you scream his name, and you weren’t even a screamer. At least no one else had ever made you do so. 

You couldn’t help but bring a devious smirk to your lips. You wanted him to make you scream his name. God. You wanted him. His expression grew hungry at your smirking lips. He kept his eyes locked on yours as he began undoing his belt. You forced yourself to keep looking at his eyes, even though you craved to look down and watch what his hands were doing.  
You heard the slight jingle of his bet buckle, then his zipper. His eyes reminded you of an animal stalking it’s prey. Hungry for what was about to come. You could feel your insides trembling with desire for him.  
You couldn’t help it anymore. You glanced down to see him move his very well endowed self out of his tight briefs. Your eyes widened at the size. Of course he would be big. This caused his lips to part in to a cocky smirk, showing his canines. His tongue danced over the sharp tip of one, making your pelvic muscles contract at the tingles that swam through them. His dress pants hung open from his hips. His large hand lightly holding his thick shaft. He took a step forward, holding eye contact, keeping his immensely sexy smirk on his lips. You gasped as you felt the tip of his head rub against your wet opening. He slowly began rubbing it up and down, throughly lubricating himself in the juices he had caused. His other hand gripped the top of your waist. His blue tattoo drawing your eyes as his arm muscles flexed. You reveled in the feeling of his tight hold. His control over you.  
He leaned over you, his lips just a slight movement away from yours. His heavy lidded eyes staring into yours. He held himself up on his elbow and forearm, while his hand came to hold the side of your head. “You ready, princess?” His voice was low, and dripping with seductive control. He leaned in further, his lips nearly touching your ear, his voice barely above a whisper. “This may hurt. You’re awfully tiny. You sure you want this?” You felt his lips on your neck again, marking you with his teeth as he continued to rub his swollen head against your wet slit.  
“Yes” your voice nearly moaning “I want it”  
You heard him emit a dark chuckle, and could feel his lips curved into a smile against your neck.  
Instantly you felt painful pleasure as his head pushed inside of you. He was big. You could feel how big he was now. Your brows knitted together as your eyes squeezed shut. Your mouth fell open as you sharply inhaled. He slowly slid further inside you, filling you completely. You moaned as he went deeper. You heard him breath in deeply. Slowly he pulled completely out, you felt your inner walls relax, returning to their normal size. You opened your eyes to see him standing tall again, looking down, admiring you. He had waited - to watch your initial reaction to feeling him enter. His eyes closed and slowly reopened, looking into yours now. His sly smirk grew. He pushed into you again, quicker this time. You let out a high pitched moan as your body stretched around him. He began slowly pushing himself deep inside and pulling nearly out, before burying himself inside again. He placed both his hands on your hips, holding you in place. Your legs wrapped around him, your hands gripped the edge of his desk above your head.  
You heard him let out a small moan, you tightened your legs around him, pulling him in deeper. You gasped at the tinge of pain, but it felt so good. “Oh-my...” You managed to gasp out during breaths. His pace had begun to quicken. Pushing himself in with more force.  
He was nearly splitting you in two, but it was pure elation. You could hear his heavy breathing, occasionally hearing him moan. Each time increasing your arousal. You watched the muscles in his arms flex as he held you, his abdomen muscles tightening as his hips pushed him further into you. He leaned down, keeping his pace, moving his hands up your sides, to your breasts, and bringing them up to your wrists. He grabbed onto them holding your arms in place. You could smell his cologne on his neck. The scent drove you wild. His thrusts became more powerful. You let out gasping whimpers each time he slammed into you. He brought his lips to yours, your tongues wrapped around each other as he began to _actually_ fuck you. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head as your back arched. You let out a loud gasping moan. Tightening your legs around him. He had been going easy, allowing you to adjust to his sizable cock. Now he was going to show you how it felt to be fucked by Handsome Jack.  
Each powerful thrust made you cry out in ecstasy. His lips came to your ear, his voice practically purring. “You want it harder, kitten?” His pace never faltering. He felt so good. His complete powerful control, pleasuring your body, unlike you’ve ever felt before. He was purely intoxicating.  
“Mmmhmm” you moaned out, unable to speak. You heard him let out an animal like chuckle. You opened your eyes as he leaned back up. His hands returned to your hips. His grip tightened as his eyes met yours. He winked before slowly pulling himself nearly out and slamming back into you. A high pitched moan escaped your open mouth. “Mmph...J..Ja..” you couldn’t speak, you could hardly think. He felt so good, so rough! His tight grip held you in place as he pounded into you with perfect skill. You could feel how wet you are, hear it with every motion. You moved your hand to hold on to his wrist. Your fingers tight around it. You couldn’t help but moan every time he pushed deeper in.  
“What was that, kitten? I seem to have forgotten what my name is, care to remind me?” His lips were curved into a delicious smirk, as he steadied his breathing.  
His speed increased, his grip tightened. He had to be getting close. Every plunge making you moan louder and louder. “Oh..my...g-... oh, god! Jack! Ja-!” You voice moaned his name. His quick, hard pace began to build another climax deep within you. “I’m..com.. Oh my god, Jack!” You screamed out his name as your body melted around him as another powerful climax enveloped you. Your grip tightened on his wrist, the other hand gripping the edge of his desk again. Your back arched, your entire body seeming to convulse inside. Slowly, you began to regain control of your muscles. You felt one of his hands leave your hip, the other tightened even more. He pulled out of you, his warm liquid spilling onto your stomach as his head tilted back, letting out a deep moan. He stood for a moment squeezing out every bit he could - his eyes closed, just catching his breath.  
He reopened them, smirking down at you. He held out a hand to help pull you up. He picked up his undershirt off of the ground and brought it to your stomach. He began cleaning his seed off of your skin. You were a bit surprised by the sincere action. He tossed the shirt to the side and placed his hand on your chin, pulling it up for your eyes to meet. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on your lips. You felt butterflies began to flutter.

  
His hand fell and he pulled away. He began putting himself back into his pants and zipping them back up. He bent down and picked up your dress. He smirked as he handed it to you. “You picked a nice dress.” You smiled back and took hold of it. You pulled it over your head and attempted to zip it back up. You felt his arms wrap around you, and re-zip your dress. He winked at you before turning around and gathering the other clothes on the ground. He held your underwear up and handed them back to you with a small smirk. You quickly pulled them on as he began to re-dress. You fixed your hair and smoothed down your skirt . Thankfully the music was still lightly playing, so the room wasn’t dead silent.

  
You weren’t sure what to do now. It was late, you needed to go home and change...and shower. You were a bit sweaty now. For obvious reasons. You looked over to Jack. He was finishing re-buttoning his shirt. You picked your heels up and stood, waiting for him to finish. “ _Should I just leave? I should probably just leave. Do I thank him? Do I say anything? It would be rude to leave without saying anything, right_?”  
“You alright there, princess?” His voice broke through your thoughts and you looked back to him. His brow was raised, he was fully dressed now.  
You smiled back reassuringly. “Yeah...I uh, I should probably go home...and change...and stuff...” thoughts weren’t exactly flowing normally yet, and you saw him smirk as you stumbled through your sentence.

“Alright, pumpkin. You gonna be okay walking alone this late?” His brow raised questioningly, the corner of his lips still slightly curved. Even while you’re dripping with awkwardness, he’s perfectly cool. His hooded, sultry eyes still drawing you in. You wanted to kiss him again, but no...it was probably best not too push whatever line the two of you had just crossed even more.

“Yeah! I’ll be fine...it’s not far from the fast travel. Um..thank you though..” you lightly smiled in return.

He let out a tiny chuckle as he sat down in his chair. “Ooookay...enjoy the rest of your night, sweetheart.” You smiled back and quickly turned, walking out of his office and over to the fast travel. You couldn’t quit smiling. Your head buzzed with a sort of high you could only get from being on cloud nine. From being with Jack. 


	9. The Day After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a pretty short chapter. It’s mostly just a continuation into ch.10 but I didn’t really want to add it on. So it gets its own mini chapter. 
> 
> Also, some of the events in the game are in different order in this story.  
> For instance,Wilhelm, Nisha, Angel and Roland are already dead, but Bloodwing isn’t and the time frame is different than the games as well. I’ll try to incorporate timeline-ish things to make it easier to keep up.

You typed in your doors code and stepped into the mostly dark apartment. A small lamp in the corner of the room illuminated Emily asleep on your couch. She must’ve decided to just stay the night.

  
You undressed and stepped into the warm water of your shower. You began to run your soapy luffa over your body, washing it off and grabbing your usual feminine wash and soaping up your hands. Without thinking you began to wash your lady bits. “Oof!” You let a small noise, feeling that you were rather sore down there. A small smile crept onto your lips as thoughts of why floated through your mind. You finished your shower and got dressed.

Climbing into bed, you got comfortable and closed your eyes. It almost didn’t seem real. The entire night. The party, the dancing...the phenomenal sex.  
That’s when it started to hit you again.. You had considered that he kept you by his side at the party strictly for appearances, and it was more than likely the truth. Then you remembered he had told you that, _one day he’d get you to admit to wanting him_. And that’s exactly what you had done tonight. You had completely given in to wanting him. He now had gotten what he wanted. To prove he could make you want him. You had honestly known all along that he didn’t have any real feelings for you, but that didn’t make it sting any less.

  
You pulled a pillow over your face and just held it there. Why did you have to develop feelings for _him_? Of all the people in the galaxy, you just had to fall for the one you never expected to even like. You had feared him, held him in your mind as something other than human, a god like being...mysterious and powerful - but even then..you didn’t worship or fawn over him like almost everyone else in Helios did. Meeting him changed most of that. You began to see a more human side, albeit a very cocky, king like human, but even so. He was good at what he did, you couldn’t really blame him for a lot of his cockiness - and you couldn’t deny that it attracted you to him more.

•

He wasn’t as much of an unknown anymore. In the several months that you had worked for him. He actually told you quite a bit about his plans for Pandora. You knew he was mining for another vault, he had told you about the previous vault he had been in, and about the betrayal of most everyone around him. How the vault hunters had killed his last girlfriend over a year ago now and that he hadn’t been in an actual relationship since.

“ _People die all the time out here - you learn to not get too attached. I missed her here and there for awhile, but I’ve moved passed it_.”

He had also told you about his daughter, a siren. Which surprised you quite a bit. He explained how she killed her mother with her siren powers when she was a child, and that he had to lock her away. That after that, he didn’t love her the same. He still cared about her, and loved her in his own way..and that’s the _main_ reason he kept her alive and locked away. But she was gone now too. She didn’t like being his prisoner, and she persuaded the Vault Hunters to kill her. This hardened him more. He realized how bad of a father he had been, and that he would never get the chance to change any of it. He killed one of the Vault Hunters and took his daughters body, along with the key she had been powering. He had her cremated and poured her ashes into the waters where Opportunity was built. For now, the vault key was hidden. Even you didn’t know where.  
He had told you the name of the Siren he despised and vowed to kill one day. Lilith. That she had done more than enough to him, to deserve whatever he decided to do to her.

You couldn’t help but dislike these Vault Hunters as well. Jack wanted to make Pandora a better planet. To rid it of its parasitical bandits and make it safe. His methods may be seen as unorthodox to some, but nothing anyone else had tried was working. The vault hunters had taken so much away from him, just because they didn’t like the way he handled things. He may not be as good as he claims, but these Vault Hunters and their supporters weren’t much better. They killed and stole, just wrapping their ways in a more friendly package.

•

You awoke the next afternoon - the pillow still on top of your face. It’s a miracle you didn’t suffocate yourself. You checked your echoband - nothing.

You walked out of your room and saw Emily sitting at the table looking at her echo. She looked up with a smile as she heard you walk closer. “Well good morning, sleepy head. Or should I say, afternoon? You weren’t back when I went to bed...which was pretty late... Sooo...I’m guessing you had fun?” Her lips were smiling a toothy smile, already showing her excitement.  
You smiled back and nodded your head as you pulled the chair out and sat down in front of her.  
“Well? Tell me all about it! Did you end up dancing with anyone?”

You nodded back, letting out a small yawn. “Yeah, I did.” You smiled back, not being able to help it.

Her eyes lit up. “Really!? Oh my gosh, yay! Well, what his name...or their names?” Her smile didn’t seem like it could get any bigger, but you wouldn’t be too surprised if it did.

You chucked back quietly, still grinning. “Only one...I only danced with one person.. a few times though.”

“Oh my gosh, just tell me! The suspense is killing me! What’s his name?” Her eyes were wide, staring into you.

You felt your smile widening a bit. “Um.... Jack..” You let out a small chuckle.

“Huh, what are the odds? You ended up dancing with a Jack after all!” She giggled to herself.

“Um...yeah... not _a_ Jack. _The_ Jack.” You smiled as Emily’s eyes opened even wider.

“What?! He ended up coming anyway!? And dancing with you!? That’s so great!”

You smiled and rolled your eyes playfully. “He... _only_ danced with me. He kind of...volunteered me to be his date. He introduced me to so many people and kept me on his arm all night”

“Wow...I’m so jealous. But I’m so happy for you! That all sounds so magical! How long did the party last? ‘Cause it was pretty late when I crashed on the couch. I was going to wait up for you, but...I got tired.” she giggled again

“Well...I’m not really sure what time it ended... people were thinning out and Jack said he needed to get some things from his office before he left for the night. He invited me along...” you paused, waiting for Emily’s reaction.

She blinked a few times. Seemingly waiting for you to continue. “....okay? And you did?”

You chuckled a little. “Yeah...I did. He got what he needed and...we ended up dancing to music in front of his big window. The one I told you about?” She nodded, her smile growing. Your eyes drifted around the room as you continued. “He....um... well one thing led to another and....we kissed. A lot...and...” you paused again and looked back at Emily. Her eyes were beyond wide now and her smile took up nearly her whole face.  
You could feel your cheeks reddening. Emily may have had plenty of stories to tell you, but you weren’t used to being the one that had the juicy story.  
You saw her eyebrows raise, telling you to go on.  
You cleared your throat. “...well...we...ended up having sex on top of his desk...” you rushed out the sentence in one breath. Emily’s mouth fell open.

“What!?” She nearly screamed. “Are you serious!? You’re joking right?” You shook your head, a small smile plastering it’s self to your lips.

“I’m serious.”

“Oh my gosh. I told you!! I told you that you two would get together! You owe me now! Oh my gosh! Well. How was it!?!” Her voice was barely lower than screaming, her feet tapping on the floor.

“I wouldn’t call a one time thing ‘ _getting together_ ’ but... it was absolutely amazing. Not even remotely comparable to anyone I’ve been with. ...and, *ahem* he’s big.” You sucked your bottom lip in and held it between your teeth - trying not to smile so much.

Emily on the other hand, couldn’t help but smile. “Of course he is. He’s Handsome Jack! Oh my gosh... I can’t believe this. Why do you think it’s only a one time thing, though?” Her brows pulled together.

You let out a sigh. “Because, I’m pretty sure he just wanted to see if he could win me over. Now that he’s gotten that, I doubt anything else will happen.” You looked down at the table.. ”I probably shouldn’t have given in...I should’ve made him think he couldn’t have me. I just...couldn’t help but keep falling for him.” You let out another sigh and looked up at Emily.  
Her expression had turned to concern. She moved her hand over and grabbed yours.  
“Hey..come on now.. even if it is just a one time thing...you got to have a great night, followed by great sex. But you never know, he could end up acting the same. Nothing may change.” She sat quietly for a moment before popping up to her feet. “Let’s have a movie night tonight. To just temporarily forget about all of this. Then tomorrow, you can tell me how your day goes.” She smiled and you could tell she was trying to comfort you.

You smiled back and nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea!”

  
The two of you watched a marathon of your favorite movies for the rest of the day and late into the night. Eventually Emily left to go get ready for work the next day and sleep.  
Your apartment was quiet, which allowed your thoughts to be loud. You decided to keep watching movies until you finally passed out.

 

***BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP***

  
You rolled off of your couch and fell to the floor as your echoband began blaring in your ear. You clicked it off and stared up at the ceiling. “ _Emily’s right_.” You thought to yourself. “ _I’ll just act like nothing is different_.”

You stood and began getting dressed and ready.


	10. Seeing Double

**7:13AM Your Office**

You had been moving a little slower this morning, and were honestly surprised that you hadn’t gotten 3 or more calls/messages from Jack asking just where the hell you were and why you’re late. You brushed it off.

You walked into Jack’s office to bring him his daily coffee. He was sitting at his desk, watching something on his echo. He didn’t seem to notice you enter. Odd.   
You sat his cup on top of his desk, making him jump a little as the noise startled him. He looked up at you, you noticed his eyes widen and blink a couple of times. You had decided to leave your hair down today - maybe he was a bit surprised by it not being pulled up? He turned his echo off and sat it down. “Um...thank you... babe..” he seemed off. You gave him an odd look. He looked down and took a sip of his coffee. “Oh. God! That’s hot!” He quickly sat the cup back on his desk and dabbed at the small bit that fell from his mouth on to his pants.   
“ _Okay. Now that’s weird. He never immediately drinks from it. He knows it’s hot. That’s how he likes it_..” you thought to yourself as you raised a brow at him. He looked back up at you and then shifted his eyes around.   
“Um...sorry. That was uh, hot. Didn’t think of that... *ahem* um..can I help you? Cupcake..”

Your brow raised even further. “ _What the hell is his problem?_ ’ You cleared your throat. “Yes...sir. It’s the first day of the week? We usually discuss what the weeks plans are...”

“Ah. Right, I know that. Duh.” He looked around and seemed to be looking for something. “I..um...I don’t really have anything right now though. So you can...just...go do your regular job, ‘kay...sweety?” His voice slightly condescending, very much unlike how he usually talks to you.

“Sweety?” Your eyes narrowed. You couldn’t remember the last time he had called you sweety... His eyes widened a bit.

“Um...sweetheart?” His brow raised a bit. He looked unsure of what to call you.

“Are you being serious? You’re acting weird.” Your eyes still narrowed at him. He really was going to act odd around you now. “Look. I realize it may have only been a one time thing, but there is no reason to act all weird around me now. I’m still your assistant, I’m kind of contractually obligated to not be weird about this. You could at least try to not make it more awkward.” You were a bit surprised at the sharp tone of your voice.

His eyes widened and looked around like he was trying to think. “One time thi-? Oh...um...uh... look...I really shouldn’t be telling you this but... seeing as you and Ja-...Uh, I mean.. I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but I have a feeling that whatever you’re referring to shouldn’t be talked about with...me. I’m..um.. I’m not Jack. I mean, I am. Kind of... I’m his body double.” He gave a small reassuring smile.

Your eyes felt like they could fall out of your head. You stared at the man in front of you. It made sense. This man definitely didn’t have Jack’s confidence and attitude. He may have looked and sounded identical, but it stopped there. You slowly sat down in the chair in front of the desk. You couldn’t help but study the mans face. He even wore a mask. His eyes were the same, at least very close, close enough not to see a difference. Same hair, same body shape. You could tell he was a bit uncomfortable with your staring. You shook your head a little to re-aline your thoughts. “I’m sorry...it’s just really odd seeing his face...but not with his...personality.”

The man laughed a little. “Trust me, I know. I’m not really anything like him. I mean, I’ve grown to be a little more so, over the years, but...”

“How long have you been his body double?”

“Ehh...about 6 or 7 years.” He shrugged

“What about the mask? Is your face underneath the sam-“

“No. I look like what he used to.” He cut you off, obviously knowing what you were going to ask. “and no, I can’t show you.”

“Oh... alright. Well...what’s your real name?”

He chuckled a little. “I’m....I’m not allowed to say. Breaking my contract and whatnot. I can tell you that it rhymes with Jimothy though.”

You chuckled back. “So Timothy, huh? What’d you used to look like then?”

He smiled back, same gorgeous smile as Jack’s. “Eh, honestly...not as good looking, but I don’t let Jack know that. His ego is already too big.” He let out a small chuckle

You couldn’t help but giggle. “You’re definitely right about that... and I’ve only known him for less than a year. I can’t imagine what all you’ve had to deal with”

He rolled his eyes and laughed, “Too much. Waaaaay too much. It hasn’t all been bad though. Having his face gets me just about anything I want...plus the occasional bullet, but I try not to dwell on that.”

You laughed a little “Why though?”

“Student debt. A lot of it. So now, I’m Jack for another 20 something years. I stay in Opportunity while he’s here and I take his place when he needs me to. He likes to appear that he’s always here. Especially when he doesn’t want anyone knowing where he’s at.”

Your eyes widened a bit. “Wow... um. We haven’t...met before... have we?”

He chuckled a little. “No. I mean, he’s told me about you and he told me to be nice to you. But I didn’t know what you looked like. That you’d be so pretty.. I mean.. um, once you said that you were my- his assistant, I realized who you were. (y/n), right?”

“He told you to be nice to me?” You laughed a little “well... _how_ sweet of him. He could’ve told me that he had a body double, and that you’d be here today.” You rolled your eyes.

“Well, he wasn’t expecting to be gone. Kind of short notice. He shouldn’t be gone more than a couple days.”

Your brows furrowed a bit. “Where is he anyway?”

The man looked down at the desk and then back to you. “I’m not really supposed to say.” You tilted your head and just looked at him. “...But, I guess since you already know everything else... He’s on Pandora. Handling some business that came up.”

“Oh...alright then. Well I guess I don’t really have anything to do today then. I’ll go ahead and leave you alone..” you smiled at him as you went to stand up from your seat.

“Wait- um...you don’t have to.” The mans hand was stretched out towards you as he slowly pulled it back to himself. “ *ahem* I mean, you’re welcome to stay and chat. I’m sure we could entertain each other with stories of working for Jack.” He let out a small, nervous chuckle.

You smiled back. It was odd seeing someone that looked exactly like Jack, but being so...different. You could tell he was attracted to you, but didn’t have Jack’s confidence to try anything bold. He didn’t make you nervous at all. In fact, you felt like you made him nervous.

You sat back down and continued getting to know more about Timothy and his years of working for Jack.

You decided to have lunch with Timothy in Jack’s office. You told Emily that you were too swamped to come to the cafe, and that you would be for a couple of days. You decided to tell her that Jack was gone and you hadn’t talked to him much, other than to get your tasks for the week. She seemed to believe you.

You and Timothy talked and joked for the rest of day. The next two days went about the same. You found yourself a enjoying getting to just sit and talk with him each day. He had so many stories and he was actually quite funny. It didn’t hurt that he looked the way did either. You liked him. He was dorky, and stumbled on his words. He showed you his best impression of Jack. With at least 6 years of perfecting it, it nearly impossible to tell the difference. Only when he tried to be suave or was caught off guard, could you see that it wasn’t Jack. He just didn’t have Jack’s spark. He even hinted at getting to know you more outside of work, if you ever wanted to.

•

The fourth morning of the week went like the rest of the week had. You brought Timothy a coffee as he had decided he liked the sweet coffee as well, and the two of you talked about random things and laughed at videos on the echonet.   
Timothy had mentioned taking to Jack that morning, and that Jack now seemed eager to get back. He didn’t say when he’d be returning though.   
Lunch time came and went and the two of you were laughing at a dumb joke that Timothy had tried to impress you with. You were both laughing as the doors to Jack’s office flung open.   
You both jumped - you spun around in your chair. You felt your breath stop. Jack stood in the doorway - just looking at the two of you. You both quickly stood up. You could feel your heart pounding as the real Jack began slowly walking towards his desk. You could see his eyes fixed on you. This was definitely him. The way he held himself when he walked, cockiness radiated off of him. You felt your stomach begin to flutter. Why did he have this effect on you?

“Oh I’m sorry. I thought this was _my_ office.” His voice was sharp and sarcastic. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Um. No Jack. We were jus-“ Timothy tried to speak before Jack held up a hand, stopping him.

“I’m back now. You can leave.” His eyes held on you. You saw Timothy walk around the desk and towards the doors. Closing them behind him as he exited Jack’s office.

Jack’s eyes stared down at you, no expression on his face. You swallowed the lump in your throat - staring up at him. That familiar feeling of slight fear and desire began to rise in you.

“You two looked chummy. Enjoy your time with my body double? He mentioned that he was enjoying getting to know _you_ on the call this morning.” A hint of attitude could be heard in his tone.

You decided to ignore his ‘chummy’ comment. “It would’ve been nice to know that you were sending a body double.” You felt a tinge of attitude rising in your voice as well.

“Well, that would kind of void the point in having him. If people knew he wasn’t me.”

“I knew he wasn’t you.”

A tiny smirk showed on his lips. “And when did you figure that out?”

“The first day. When I could tell that he wasn’t sure what to call me, and kept gawking at me like he had never seen me before. Granted, I didn’t expect him to be a body double. I just thought it was you being an ass. He was nice once he realized who I was. He told me that you told him to be nice to me.” You let a slightly smug smile appear on your lips.

Jack’s eyebrow rose a bit - his tiny smirk keeping its place on his lips. “Not that nice. I didn’t tell him to flirt with you.”

“Then you shouldn’t have told him to pretend to be you. After all, with what happened this past weekend - who knows what I would’ve done with someone that I thought was you. I did enjoy his company.” Your tone definitely had some attitude in it now, but it annoyed you that Jack didn’t tell you about his body double, and that he now had an attitude about the situation.

The smirk left his lips, his expression became more serious. “Mm. Well I hope you don’t miss his company too much, because you won’t be seeing him here again anytime soon. Care to elaborate on just how well he got to know you?”

 _“Oh? So that’s how he wants to be_? ‘No. I don’t. And if I really want to I can always go see him. He mentioned wanting to get to know me outside of work. He does stay in Opportunity, after all. I could go visit on my days off.” Jack’s brows rose. You gave him a smug smirk. “Anyway, I have work to do.” You stepped around him and started to walk down the steps of the platform.

“Um. We’re not finished, sweetheart.” You could hear he was getting angry. Your comment must have worked. You kept walking. You were nearly down the second set of steps when you heard his gun cock. You immediately stopped. Maybe insinuating that you might have fooled around with his body double and then walking away, wasn’t the best course of action to take.

You slowly turned back to him. He stood next to his desk, holding his gun in one hand, aimed at you. The large window behind him, framed him perfectly. Even now you couldn’t help but find him irresistible. Something in you had changed in the past few months. Seeing Jack holding a gun, having complete power to do whatever he decided, drew the corner of your lips up into a devious smirk, instead of drawing fear out of you. “I said, that we weren’t finished yet.” His voice a deep growl. Low and authoritative.

You narrowed your eyes at him, and walked back up the stairs. You came to a stop right in front of his gun. You could tell he was showing his dominance, but it didn’t scare you. “Are you going to shoot me, Jack?” Your voice was a low purr, your eyes stayed locked with his.

He held his position for a few moments before his arm lowered, the gun dropped out of his hand to the floor. He took a deep breath in. “No. I wouldn’t shoot you. I may shoot my double though.” His eyes rolled as he let out a short puff of air. “Probably not, ‘cause then I’d have to get a new one...”

“Are _you_ jealous, Jack?” Your smirk returned, more obvious now. You noticed his brow raise. “I didn’t do anything with your double. Except for talk with him.”

Jack chuckled back dryly. “Jealousy would suggest that I want what I can’t have.” His voice was low and you couldn’t help but find his tone alluring.

The corners of your mouth curved up. “And what do you want, Jack?”

You watched his eyes as they lowered - hungrily taking in every inch of you, before returning to meet yours. “ _You_.”

Chills ran up your spine, your heart began to pound. You knew he was copying your answer from the night of the party, but even so - hearing him say the word weakened your knees.   
You decided to play it off with a sensuous smirk. You stepped next to him and walked over to the large window. Keeping your back turned to him and gaze on Elpis, you spoke in a low voice, “Then I guess you don’t have any reason to be jealous. ....I’m all yours.”

Almost immediately you felt his hand on your waist. He quickly turned you to face him and pushed your back against the large window overlooking Elpis. His other hand was instantly holding the side of your head. You stared up into his eyes. They looked intense as they stared back. His hand tilted your face upwards and his lips came down on yours. Your eyes fluttered closed. His kiss was aggressive. Passionate. You felt his hand slide down and grasp your throat. His grip was firm, but not to where you couldn’t breath. You felt your insides flare up and begin to tingle. No one had ever held your throat as they roughly kissed you - holding you against a surface, unable to move. You liked it.   
His body was against yours. His thigh risen a bit, helped hold you in place between your thighs. You could tell your skirt had ridden up.   
You realized your hands had come up to grip the sides of his abdomen. You could feel his muscles flex as he breathed heavily. You tightened your grip and heard him let out a slight moan - his grip on your neck slightly tightened. You breathily moaned at the feeling combined with feeling his thigh rise and press against your pelvis. He pulled away from your lips. His curving into a delicious grin - his eyes piercing into yours. His brows pulled together, “You _like this_?” He squeezed your neck a little, indicating what he meant by ‘ _this_.’ You let out a small breathy noise of pleasure. You _did_ like this. You didn’t think you ever would, but feeling his hand wrapped around your throat was driving you wild. His lips curved up even more. “You’ve changed since you first walked into my office, kitten. You’re not scared anymore. You seem to like it now.”

“I do like it..” you breathed out, staring up into his eyes. You wanted his lips back. You wanted him to keep going. To see what he would do with this new realization.   
You always figured Jack enjoyed it rough, he just seemed the type that would enjoy having full, powerful control. You hadn’t expected to hope he would use that rough control on you though.

You noticed his grin begin show off his canines. His eyes dipping down to admire how you looked in his grasp. He brought his lips back to yours - gaining entrance with his tongue. You met it with yours as the two intertwined. You could feel his other hand holding you against him, and a growing bulge against your lower abdomen. You lowered your hand, placing it on the now tight pants restraining his arousal. You felt his lips leave yours for a split second as he quickly inhaled at your bold touch.   
You slowly rubbed the outside of his pants as the two of you continued passionately kissing. You could feel him pulsing against your palm. He began lowering his kiss down your jawline and to your neck. You could feel him leaving his mark on you. You let out soft moans as you felt his teeth graze your skin - his thigh pushing against your throbbing sex.

A beeping noice interrupted the moment. He stopped for a moment - just listening. The beeping continued. He seemed to finally realize that it was coming from his desk’s computer. He let out an audible sigh. You noticed his eyes roll as he let go of you and turned to his desk.   
You began to steady your breathing. You looked down to notice your skirt had indeed risen up. You pulled it back down and straightened it out. Fixing your hair too, while you were at it.

“What!?” Jack snapped at his computer as he answered the call coming from it.

A mans voice spoke up.   
“I’m sorry for the interruption. I tried calling your assistants desk, but I didn’t get an answer...”

“Yeah, she’s...” Jack looked back at you, pausing his sentence. You noticed the tiniest curve up on the corner of his lips, before he turned back to his desk. “...she’s on break right now. What is it?”

“A gentleman from Tediore is here at the front desk, to see you. Should I send him up to your office?”

“Um no- I’ll...I’ll meet him in the boardroom. I’ll be down there in a few minutes.”

“Yes sir. I’ll let him know.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I continue on this story? I have an idea of where I want to go with it..but I’m not sure if I should just end it sooner and or leave it for now. 
> 
> Comments are appreciated.   
> Thanks for reading!


	11. Unexpected Guest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Smutty Warning* or spoiler* just a little though

Jack clicked out of the call and put his hands down on his desk - dropping his head down with another sigh. He pushed off of it and turned back to you.  
He then leaned against his desk, crossing his arms against his chest.

  
“You know, you were just supposed to be my assistant. Some old woman or some nerdy loser that I would have zero interest in at all.” He paused for a moment, just looking at you. You couldn’t help but smirk a little. He let out a quick exhale through his nose as he smirked and shook his head. “But no... I get a gorgeous young woman that I can’t keep my hands off of. _Except_ , for when I get called away to a friggin meeting.” He huffed and stood from his leaning position. “I don’t know how long this will take, and I might kill the guy for interrupting...sooo...you can go ahead and go home. Days almost over anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart.” He turned and walked to the doors, leaving his office. You could tell he was trying to calm down as he walked away. Either from being aroused or annoyed at the interruption - you weren’t quite sure, maybe both.

You glanced back out at the glowing moon. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself recalling Jack’s actions since he’d been back today.  
He definitely seemed jealous of your new closeness to Timothy. Honestly, you felt almost no attraction to the body double. He was handsome and funny, but you could already tell you’d prefer to have him as a friend. There wasn’t attraction there like there was with the _real_ Jack.  
And his own words ‘.. _I can’t keep my hands off_..’ brought a bigger smile to your face. Sure, they probably weren’t deep feelings for you, but he admitted to wanting you - and he obviously didn’t want your first time together to be the only time. His actions against the window proved that.

You went home for the day and called Emily to come over once you knew she was home for the day as well. You explained everything from Timothy to your little make out session against the window. She seemed equally happy that Jack was still interested in you, and rather intrigued by the mysterious body double. Of course she promised to keep him a secret.  
Eventually, Emily left for the night and you finished your usual routine before heading to bed. You drifted effortlessly off to sleep.

•

**8:02AM Jack’s Office (Next Day)**

You walked through the doors of Jack’s office and up to his desk. He was already on a video call with someone. He glanced up and lightly smiled at you as you set his cup of coffee down. His eyes met yours and lingered there. You helplessly smiled back, looking into his enchanting eyes. You could hear the man on the other end of the call talking, but honestly hadn’t caught a word of what he was saying.

“Jack? Are you even listening?” The man interrupted his own sentence, obviously noticing Jack looking away at something beyond the view of the video call.

Jack eyes snapped away from yours and back to his computer.  
“Yeah, yeah. I’m listening. Continue.”

The man continued his conversation. You motioned behind you, asking Jack if he wanted you to leave. He shook his head. You sat down in the chair opposite his desk and sipped on your coffee as you scrolled through technical requests on your echo.

You didn’t pay too much mind to the conversation - you could tell it was an older man, taking about working with Jack instead of constantly bashing heads. You kept your eyes on your echo as to not overly seem like you were eavesdropping. After several minutes of back and forth conversation, Jack insisted that he needed to go and clicked out of the call.  
You closed out of your echo and looked up at him. He picked up his coffee and took a drink. It _was_ probably cool enough now.  
“Did ya get all that?” He motioned to the now closed call.

“I wasn’t really listening..” you admitted with a small smile. Surprisingly being honest this time. You _did_ have a knack for overhearing company conversations.

He let out a small chuckle. “You not listening? _Riiiight_. Well, basically some of the other companies don’t care much for the fact Tediore is working with me now and they want in too. Have half-yearly meetings and whatnot to go over plans and maximize sells for everyone. What do you think?”

You raised your brows, “what do _I_ think? Why?”

“‘Cause you’re a good decision maker. I mean, you chose me.” He winked as a smile spread on his lips.

You chucked quietly. “Well, not intentionally...”

“Eh, so I won you over...either way. Your thoughts?”

You sat for a moment. Giving off an expression of thought so that he knew you weren’t just sitting there blank. “I think its risky. Working closely with the other companies - whether it’s a few or all of them - could allow the stealing of secrets or future plans. However, it could also allow _us_ to possibly... _find out_ their future, secret intentions and plans.”

Jack began smirking. “See, another reason why I like you, Pumpkin. You think like someone running an enterprise. I’d have to agree with you. However, telling them no or yes, each comes with their own possible problems. Eh. I’ll make a decision later. I have other crap to deal with.” He sat his coffee down and rolled his chair back a little. “Come ‘ere.” He motioned you over with his fingers.

You stood and walked around his desk and stood next to him. He turned himself and chair to face you - wrapping a hand around each of your wrists and pulling you toward him. You stepped forward - your legs now against the edge of his chair, between his spread legs. He pulled back a little more, placing your arms around his shoulders - causing you to fall into his lap. You adjusted yourself so that your legs dangled over one of the chairs arms.  
He moved his hands to where one rested on your hip, the other holding the side of your face. His thumb began caressing your cheekbone.  
You stared into his gaze for a moment or two before softly speaking.  
“So is this how our morning meetings are going to go now?” You smiled playfully.

“Sure, I like it better this way anyway.” he grinned back. You silently chucked back, your fingers lightly playing in his hair.  
He pulled you closer and placed his lips to yours. You kissed back, welcoming his lips to intertwine with yours. This kissing was different - passionate, but completely gentle. His palm cupped your jaw as his fingers occasionally rubbed your skin. Your entire body felt buzzingly warm, and you couldn’t help but begin to smile. You felt his lips curve into a smile as well, completely causing your butterflies to burst from their slumber and flutter wildly.

He pulled away slightly - you opened your eyes to see him looking back at them. He was smiling a little, you could even see it in his eyes. This feeling was different. You could actively feel yourself falling for him even more. This wasn’t lustful...this was-

*Knock Knock Knock*

Jack’s eyes sprang towards his office doors.  
“Goddamn it.” He whispered under his breath.  
You scooted yourself off of his lap and ducked down, crawling under his desk. “Uh..Pumpkin? What are you doing?” He spoke through chuckles.

“We don’t know who that is. I’m hiding.”  
You weren’t really sure why your first instinct was to hide under Jack’s desk. You were honestly a bit tired of random people walking in on you kissing your boss though. It did kind of make it look like that’s why you still had this job.

“Wh-“

“Shh. Just answer the door!”

He leaned back, pressing a button on his echo. “Who is it, what do you want?”

A male voice, sounded young, spoke back. “Uh...my name is Ian.. I’m-I’m from the mining site.. I have some important things that I need to discuss with you..”

Jack let out a sigh. “Alright. Come in.”  
He looked down at you. “You uh...you staying under there?” You nodded back. He chuckled and positioned himself to look natural for the man waking in.

You heard footsteps getting closer and then stopping. “Hello sir. I- I would’ve asked your assistant...but it didn’t appear anyone was out there...”

Jack cleared his throat, glancing down at you. “Yeah, she’s busy right now. Anyway, I don’t have all day. What’s this about, kid?”

“Oh- Um... I’m one of the head leads in your eridium mine. Um, in the Blight. I just needed to give you updates on progress, let you know of needed supplies, and get your instruction for further drilling. It’s um...pretty important, sir. I- I- I am sorry for just showing up.”

“Okaaaay... Well spit it out, we both have other things to do.”  
You could hear the annoyance in Jack’s voice, but even so - this was business, and he always handled his business when he needed to.

The young man began talking. You noticed Jack shift in his chair to get more comfortable. This sounded like it could take a bit. His legs were spread in a customary ‘man spread’ - you got an idea to get him back for getting an attitude about Timothy. In a fun way, of course.  
From where you knew the man was sitting, you knew he wouldn’t be able to see you if you, maybe...slid your hand up Jack’s thigh.  
You felt Jack’s leg tighten under your touch. He didn’t look down though. “ _Good_ ” you thought as you smiled to yourself.  
Slowly you slid your hand further up his thigh, and over his natural bulge. You squeezed a little and felt Jack tense as you heard him inhale quickly. You wondered what his expression must have shown, as you silently chuckled to yourself.  
You rubbed down the seam of his pants and then over his buttons. You could feel him starting to get hard. His thigh muscles were still tight, and you imagined he was concentrating on keeping a straight face.  
“ _Time for a little fun_ ” you thought. Your lips curved into a deviously amused smile. You brought your other hand up and began slowly undoing the buttons to his pants. One...two...three...annnnnd open. You were pleasantly surprised to see he was going commando. You wrapped your fingers around his erect member and pulled him out of his pants.

“Um.. are you alright? Did I say something wrong?” You heard the young man stop and ask. You had to put your hand over your mouth to stop from giggling. Jack must’ve made a face.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s hurry this up, kid.” Jack grunted out. He was getting all bothered, and you couldn’t help but enjoy it.  
The young man started speaking again. Albeit, now tripping over some of his words.

You slowly began to stroke up and down on his shaft. You could feel him tensing with every movement. You leaned forward and brought your tongue to the underside of his head - slowly dragging it over the top and pulling his head completely into your warm mouth.  
Immediately Jack’s hands tightly grasped the edges of his chairs arms. It didn’t seem like the other man noticed.  
He was too large to completely pull him into your mouth, but you settled on pleasing his head and letting your hands cover the rest. In unison you began slowly working your mouth and tongue around his head while moving your hands down and around the rest of his shaft. His pelvis instinctively moved up to meet your touch. You could hear him now actively controlling his breathing.  
You decided to up the speed a little. You heard him take a deep breath in, his hands still tightly holding his armrests. His entire shaft was now wet with your spit as you slid your hands up and down it. Twisting them around as you went - twirling your tongue around and sucking to increase the pressure on his throbbing head. After a couple more minutes, his thighs and abdomen began tightening even more. He had to be getting close.

“Okay, well that’s all for the progress updates-“ the young man spoke up, apparently flipping through some papers.

“Great. Thanks for coming in, kid. You can go now.”

“But I still had a list of supplies we’ll be needing soon-“

“Yeah. I’ll get to those later. Leave the list. I have other things to do right now. Leave before I shoot you.”

“Oh- okay!” You could hear the fear in the young man as he turned and scurried to the doors.

Before the man could even get out of the doors, Jack’s entire body tightened as his hands gripped his chair. “ _Bingo_ ” you thought as you sucked him further into your mouth, tightening your grip on him. Jack let out a low moan as you felt his pelvis rise. His warm cum entered your mouth, every small thrust spurting a little more. You could see his head tilted back, his expression showing his immersed pleasure. You stroked down one more time, pulling your mouth off of him - making a perfect suction ‘pop!’ sound. He looked down at you, still breathing heavily. You smiled up at him, swallowing his climax. You were surprised at how sweet it tasted.

He shook his head slowly, a smirk appearing on his lips.

“What...was that, pumpkin?” He asked, his voice breathy, but still strong.

You smiled back, answering with playful sarcasm. “What did it feel like it was?”

“It felt pretty friggin amazing. You’re really good at that.” He held his hand down for you take. You smirked back proudly, taking his hand to stand. You hopped up and sat on his desk in front him - still smiling. He began putting himself back into his pants and re-buttoning them. “Do I get a taste of you now?” He asked, giving you a seductive smirk - rubbing his hands up your calves.

“Nope. We both have work to do” you smiled and hopped back down off of his desk. He caught your arm as you walked away and pulled you back to him as he stood. He pulled you against his body and brought his lips to yours, kissing you deeply. You could feel your knees start to go weak. You pulled away and gave him a smug smile. “You have a meeting in less than an hour. Have fun” giving him a wink - your tone was teasingly playful. He smiled and narrowed his eyes at you. You turned away and walked to the doors.

•  
For the rest of the day, other than lunch, you worked on reading the proposals from the other companies wanting to work with Hyperion. They all knew they had no chance of overtaking, so working with was the best option. Jack had asked you to thoroughly read through and find anything that seemed like they had malicious intentions. So far, none seemed to.

•  
After leaving your office for the day and the weekend - you traveled to Emily’s area of work on Helios. You had agreed to meet her there before you both traveled to the apartment area.

You hadn’t heard anything from Jack since he had left for his meeting. Not totally uncommon, but noticeable. He had said that particular meeting could end up running long. It was with the CEOs of the other companies, after all.  
Once inside your place, you both changed into more comfortable clothes and began catching up on anything you may have forgotten to tell each other lately.  
Emily had met another guy and was going out with him the next day. Tonight though, the two of you had decided on having another movie night.

It was about mid-way into the evening now. Nearly half way through your second movie, you heard a knock at your door. You both looked wide-eyed at the door before looking back at each other, both knowing that hardly anyone knew where you lived.

  
“Are you expecting someone?” Emily whispered, a curious expression on her face.  
“No. I’m not...” you responded, your brows pulled together as you stood.  
“Be careful!” She yelled in a whisper.  
You stopped before opening the door and turned back to her.  
“How am I supposed to be careful when opening the door?” Your voice a sarcastic whisper.  
She shrugged and motioned for you to quickly open the door with her hands.

You unlocked the door and slowly opened it a tiny bit - peeking out of the crack.  
Right outside your door, standing in the large hallway - was Handsome Jack! Your eyes widened and you let out a gasp in surprise.

“Who is it?!” Emily loudly whispered from her spot on the couch - unable to see into the hallway from her angle.

“Company?” Jack asked with a raised brow.

“No...well yeah, my friend-“

“(Y/n), who is it?!” You heard Emily whisper again.

You held a finger up to Jack and turned back to Emily. “Someone from work. I’ll be right back. You can keep watching the movie”  
You slid out of the door and into the hallway - putting your back to the door.

“Don’t want your friend to know who’s at your door?” His brow still raised, a slight smirk on his lips.

“Well...she might freak out if she sees you... So if you’re alright with that then...”

“Like are we taking, bad freak out or...good freak out?”

“Um...I don’t know.. she’s been kind of obsessed with you for years..so whichever that one belongs to..”

“Ah, that kind..” he chuckled back.  
You rolled your eyes playfully. He definitely knew all about the ‘ _obsessed freak out_ ’

“Yeah...” you glanced up to see a couple people walk past, their mouths nearly agape with surprise at seeing Jack. He didn’t seem to pay them any attention. “Um.. anyway... is something wrong? Did you need me for something?” You asked, looking up at him.

“You weren’t answering your echo. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

You quickly pulled your wrist up to look at your echoband - tapping it a couple times. “Oh-...it’s off..” You looked back to him “I’m sorry, I- I didn’t know it was off. What did you need?”

Just then, the door behind you swung open with an annoyed Emily on the other side - obviously annoyed at your vagueness as to who was at the door. “What is going o- Oh my god.” Her widened eyes locked on to Jack instantly. You could tell she was shocked. Emily never said ‘oh my god’ it was always ‘gosh’. You gave her a tiny smile - not sure if she could even see you at the moment. Her gaze was still locked in place. “I’m sorry...I’m um.. yeah-“ she quickly stepped back into the room and closed the door again - leaving you and Jack alone again. Well, as alone in the hallway as you could be.

You turned back to Jack. “Yeah...that’s my friend. Sorry..”

He let out a small chuckle. “That wasn’t too bad.”

“Yeah, I think shock might have overtaken her... that was actually really calm for her.”

Jack began chuckling, and you could’ve help but laugh a little too. You knew you would be hearing hell about this later from Emily.

Jack’s chuckles lessened and he began to speak again. “Well, I was going to invite you over...but seeing as you’re already busy for the night-“

You interrupted without thinking “Over where?”

A small smirk rose on Jack’s lips. “Over...to my place. For dinner?”

“Oh... um..” you slightly turned your gaze back to the door. “I’m not busy tomorrow..” you said hopefully. Your heart was pounding at the thought of his invitation.

His expression looked a little disappointed. “I am... Going down to Pandora to settle some things in Opportunity..” then his eyes lit up again. “...but, I should be back in the evening.. if you’re available then?”

You couldn’t hold back the smile that was forming on your lips. “Of course. Should I meet you somewhere?”

His eyes glanced up in thought. “Hm...I should be back around 5, but I’ll send you a message when I’m back for sure. You can meet me in your office and we’ll head out from there. Sound good, sweetheart?”

You nodded, still smiling. “Sounds great”

His lips curved into a smirk - he took a step closer and leaned down a bit, tilting your chin up with his hand. His lips met yours with a light kiss. He then let his hand drop as he stood back up straight. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Pumpkin” he winked as he turned and began walking down the hallway - leaving you grinning like an idiot.

•

You stepped back inside to see Emily sitting on the floor, back against the couch - staring in your direction. “Handsome - _Handsome_ _Jack_! At your door and you don’t tell me! I looked so dumb! Like a skag in the headlights or something!”

You couldn’t help but smile a little. “It’s fine Emily. He didn’t think anything of it. He’s used to worse reactions.”

“Ugh! ...I’ve never seen him that close before. I just kind of froze.. he was probably the last person I expected to see out there. What did he want anyway?” She asked, still obviously flustered.

You walked over and sat down on the floor next to her - taking a sip of your drink before explaining. “Well...first off, my echoband was off. It must have turned off without me realizing it. So, he came to check on me, basically.” You heard a small ‘aw’ come from Emily. “...but other than that, he invited me over tomorrow to have dinner with him. At his place...”

Emily’s eyes widened and her grin grew. “Oh my gosh! Really? Did you say yes?”

You rolled your eyes. “Of course I said yes!”

“You get to see his place! I bet it’s nice.” She nodded her head as if agreeing with herself. “Well, who cares how my date tomorrow goes! I’m more excited for yours now!”

“Oh whatever, mine isn’t until tomorrow night anyway. So unless you stay the night with yours, I’ll get to hear all about yours first.” You both started laughing. “Anyway, lets just finish this movie!”

The movie continued and a couple more after that. The two of you decided to open a bottle of wine...or two. The night went on with the both of you laughing and talking about your dates the next day. Eventually, you were both asleep on the blanket pallet you had made on the floor. Snacks and a couple of empty wine bottles scattered around the two of you.

•

You woke up the next morning, Emily was surprisingly still asleep. You quietly stood and began picking up the snacks and such. Emily’s Date wasn’t for a couple more hours, so you’d let her sleep a little longer.  
You put everything away or in the trash and went to go shower. By the time you got out and walked into your room, you saw that Emily was awake. “Good morning!” You said, noticing her groggy appearance. She mumbled back, as she downed a glass of water. Emily always handled alcohol worse than you. It would take nearly an entire bottle to get you even a little tipsy, while 1 or 2 glasses would have Emily giggling at nothing.

She shuffled into your room and plopped down on your bed. One good thing about hungover Emily - she was actually calm and quiet. “I have to leave to get ready soon... don’t forget, if I send you a message with an X - you have to call and get me out of there.”

You dried yourself off behind your changing divider and put on some clean clothes. “I know, I know. How many of these dates have you been on and how many have I pulled you out of? I don’t even know how many.”

She chuckled back “Yeah, I don’t either.. maybe one day one will stick around for awhile”

You stepped out from your cover. “That would also require you to stick around for awhile.” You smiled playfully at her. She smiled back and shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh well, I’m going to go start getting ready.” She stood and walked to your front door. “I’ll message you later” she called over her shoulder before closing the door behind her.

You decided to go ahead and dry your hair so that it was wavy and full for the day.

  
•

  
After a few of hours you received a message from Emily - saying that it was going well so far and that this guy wasn’t weird or creepy, at least not yet.  
It was only about 3 in the afternoon, so you still had plenty of time before Jack would even be back on Helios. You walked over to your small window and looked out. Your apartment was on the side that faced Pandora. You’d looked out at it so many times before, but this time you found yourself thinking of all of the things going on down there that you had no clue about. All of the things that Jack had told you about, and stories you’d heard from other people too. You may have been a Pandoran, but honestly, you didn’t know much about it outside of Hollowpoint. You knew the ins and outs of Helios though, and that’s what mattered to you anyway.  
  
•

You took some time to decide on an outfit to wear tonight. Which was difficult, because you had absolutely no idea of what to wear. Should it be casual, less casual?  
You eventually settled on black pleather pants, a light grey T-shirt and a matching black pleather jacket - with your white sneakers.  
After spending nearly and hour trying things on only to toss them on your bed after not liking how they looked, you decided to listen to some music while you got ready.  
You were glad the walls of Helios kept most sound in, or else your neighbors would probably hate you and your loud music.

Eventually, you were ready. A little early, but you wanted to make sure that you were ready when Jack messaged you.  
You sat down on your couch and kicked your legs up. Flipping through your echo, you decided to watch a show to pass time.  
Your echoband dinged, making you jump. It was only Emily again.

“ _Hi! I’m going back to his place, don’t wait up! Haha just kidding! Have fun tonight!_ ”

You sent a quick reply. She seemed excited. She had a lot of charisma, and men always liked her. It helped that she was also relatively pretty. Her smile always drew people in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so glad some people are liking the story so far! Seriously!  
> I wasn’t sure anyone would even be interested in it and it really does mean a lot to me when I get kudos or comments! 
> 
> So let me know your thoughts and such! All are welcome :) 
> 
> Thanks again!


	12. Dinner Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next couple of chapters are a little shorter than the usual ones, but I wanted to cut them in half instead of having them both as one.

** 6:12pm Your Apartment **

 

You glanced at the time. Still no message from Jack. He did say  _around_ 5 , so you didn’t let it worry you too much. A tiny thought popped into your mind, however. “ _What if he doesn’t message at all? Or what if he forgot? He hardly ever forgets things.._ ” you shook the thoughts from your head. He was busy on Pandora, these things probably take some time.

 

About 20 more minutes went by. You could feel yourself leaning more towards your negative thoughts. 

Then your echo began ringing. It was Jack. Your face lit up and you quickly answered. 

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey Pumpkin! I’m sorry I’m late. Pandora friggin sucks. I’m in your office now though, if you’d like to come meet me?” 

 

“Yeah, I’ll head there!”

 

“M’kay babe, I’ll see you soon”

 

The call ended and you stood up. Doing a little happy dance. “Ugh...stop acting like a damn teenager, (y/n)” you told yourself - regaining your composure. You spritzed yourself with your perfume and headed out to the fast travel. 

•

 

You appeared inside your office. Sure enough, Jack was lounging on one of the couches. He hopped to his feet as you took a step in. 

 

His lips wore a handsome smirk as he strode over to you. You noticed his eyes look you up and down. “Well hey there, gorgeous” you smiled back, blushing a little. This was new, it wasn’t some lust driven activity in his office. It was an actual _planned_ occasion. Dinner, with Jack, at his place. “Ready to head out?” You nodded back. He stepped over to the fast travel. “I have a fast travel station outside my door, so we won’t have to walk far.” Yet again, you smiled at the power he held over this entire place.

He began typing in a code. One you could imagine that  only  he knew. He held his hand out. You stepped on to the pad, taking his hand. He pressed ‘enter’ and you felt the pull of being pixelized. 

 

You opened your eyes to a room that looked about the same as the rest of Helios. It had large metal sliding door on the wall to your right, that indicated it was locked. It must’ve been the way to get here other than fast travel. To your left was another metal door, also locked. This one seemed to open sideways down the middle. 

 

“Okay. Step right here, pumpkin.” Jack motioned next to him, near the door. You walked over and stood. A scanning light appeared and passed over the two of you. 

 

_Welcome home, Handsome_.  A robotic female voice said as the doors near you slid apart. You chuckled to yourself a little at the greeting. 

 

Jack motioned for you to go first, following behind you. You stepped through the doors. The room on the other side was large and open. The walls were tall and metal. A nicely sized metal chandelier hung in the middle of the room.

Large windows that looked over Pandora went floor to ceiling along the back wall and seemed to have privacy or emergency shutters that would come down from the ceiling. That made sense, with who this apartment belonged to. 

The floor looked marble and the decor was of course accented in yellows, golds, blacks and greys. There was a fire place, large comfy looking chairs and a matching L shaped couch. On the far wall to your right, between two doors was a large fish tank inserted into the wall - if it was on the ground you imagined it would take up about half of the walls height. You could see some sort of fish, at least you figured they were fish, swimming around in it. It’s blue hue cast around it and seemed seemed to glow. You noticed an archway to your left on the far wall. It seemed to be a kitchen/dining area from what you could see. 

 

You stood a few steps into the room, just looking at the wealthy looking apartment. It echoed Jack’s ego, but it was still tasteful. Nothing jumped out at you that you didn’t like. 

You could smell something amazing - food obviously, but you couldn’t place what it could be. 

 

“So...what do ya think, pumpkin?” Jack asked, walking in front of you sit on the arm of his couch. 

 

You chucked a little, still a bit baffled. You knew his place would look nice, but this was _really_ nice . “It’s amazing” you said still looking around. You imagined your expression was one of a kid walking into a candy store. “..and it smells really good in here.” 

 

“Oh, that would be dinner. Follow me, sweetheart.” He hopped to his feet and strode over to the kitchen area you had noticed. You followed along, taking your shoes off first and leaving them near his door. 

Once you were through the archway, you could see the full room. It was a large kitchen. Extremely fancy appliances, a counter/bar eating area with barstools, and then a large table on the other side. 

Jack walked over, behind the counter and bent down. He pulled out a steamy dish and set it on top of the counter. “Kept it warm while I went and met you.” 

 

It looked and smelled nice. Some type of meat, and some veggies all baked together in a rich broth. 

 

“Wait...did _you_ cook  this? You can cook?” You asked looking back to him - a bit of surprise in your tone. 

 

He began laughing a little. “Well yeah...I am a grown man. I wasn’t always a big CEO, I _had_ to  cook for myself. Plus, gotta impress the _ladies_.” He said smirking.

 

You rolled your eyes, smiling back. “As if you don’t already do that enough.” you moved and sat down on one of the barstools. 

•

Jack cut the meat and served up both plates. The two of you ate at the bar and chatted. It all seemed so natural, yet you could feel your anxiousness at the new situation. The food was delicious and you both sipped on wine with it. Great wine, much pricier than the stuff you and Emily had drank.

After finishing eating. Jack put everything away while you continued looking at the cool things around his living room. Including the big fish tank. 

After being here a couple hours you had begun to ease a little more. You sat down on the large couch as Jack came back into the room. He was in a Hyperion T-shirt, jeans and just socks now. He sat next to you. 

 

“Your apartment is fantastic.” You smiled as you looked over to him. 

 

“Well you’re more than welcome to come visit me.” He winked with a smirk growing on his lips, draping one of his arms over the back of the couch. He looked so casual, yet so appealing. It’s like it took no effort for him to keeping drawing you in more and more. 

 

You smiled back. “Well I’m sure everyone who’s seen it has said the same.” 

 

His brow raised a bit, still smirking. “Actually, you’re the first person I’ve brought in here, Cupcake. I’ve never really had a reason for anyone to be in here.”

 

Your brows furrowed. Without really thinking you said the first thing that popped in your mind. “But what about your ex? ...the one that was killed?” 

 

“Nisha?” You nodded back.

You’d only heard her name a few times. It wasn’t that Jack got sad when he talked about her, he just never really mentioned her much. He had told you that he was and had been over her, but that he’d always remember her fondly. She was one of the only ones that didn’t betray him. 

“Oh, after Nisha took over Lynchwood, she was always down on Pandora. We actually didn’t see each other often unless I went down there. The few times she was on Helios, it was always in my office. She never saw this place. She probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway, she wasn’t really into fancy things.” He shrugged, giving you a smile. 

 

“Oh...” you looked down at your lap, wondering why you brought up his ex. His dead ex at that. 

 

You heard Jack chuckle. “You alright, sweetheart?” 

 

Your eyes snapped back to his. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m...sorry for bringing her up.”

 

He shrugged again. “It’s really alright, babe.” He snapped twice and the lights dimmed off except for the glow of the fish tank - a large screen came over the fireplace, replacing it as it moved under the floor. “Favorite genera of movie?” 

 

You watched in awe as the furniture switched out at his command. “Um... horror, actually.”

 

“Really? Good choice.” He said as he scrolled through something on his echoband. “I’m guessing you haven’t seen  _The Lost Station_ yet?”

 

“No, it hasn’t even been released yet-“

Jack pressed a title on his echo and the screen began playing something. After a few seconds, the words ‘ _The Lost Station_ ’ appeared over an eerie view of space. You let out a small chuckle. “I don’t know why I’m surprised that you already have access.” 

 

You noticed him smirk and wink at you. He repositioned himself so that he was sitting the right way on the couch and held his arm open, raising his brow and tilting his head at you. You scooted over and he put his arm around your shoulder, leaning you over on him. You could smell him now. His rich, clean, powerful smell always made your head buzz, most likely, because it was  his . You couldn’t help but smile to yourself as the movie began playing. 

 

As horror movies usually go, the characters in them are  less smart than people usually would be. You and Jack spent most of the movie griping at the characters for making dumb decisions and laughing at other dumb things. You really enjoyed this, it was much better than quietly and awkwardly watching a movie in silence. 

•

Eventually the movie ended. You glanced at the time. It was nearly 11pm now. It hadn’t seemed like you’d been here that long. You felt a little tinge of sadness realizing you’d probably be leaving soon. It _was_ late . 

Jack noticed you look at the time and glanced at his as well. 

 

“Hm. Didn’t think it’d been that long.” He mumbled. 

 

You sat back up straight and stretched your arms above your head. “I know, me either. I’ve enjoyed it though..” you glanced back over to him to see him already watching you as you stretched. You slowly returned your arms down. You wanted to kiss him again, to feel his soft lips and taste him. 

Eh. What the hell, right?

 

You leaned over and placed your lips on his. His hand came up and held your face, and began deepening the kiss. He pulled you over on top of him to where you were now straddling him on your knees. You brought both of your hands to hold his head. You began running your fingers through the back of his hair. He pulled away, smirking at you. “Trying to make up for when he got interrupted the other day, kitten?” 

 

You smiled back. “Maybe...” 

 

“Well then we’re not staying on the couch” his lips curved into wickedly sexy smirk.

He held on to you as he stood - wrapping your legs around him as he walked to the door on the right side of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, updates may be a little slower (not like months or more) maybe just every few days instead of everyday. So stick with me! I will finish the story eventually. 
> 
> So far the story has been building up the relationship between Jack & Reader, but it will eventually include some other people from the games. That’s the idea, at least! 
> 
> Again, comments and kudos are great! I’m thankful for everyone who leaves me their opinion! I’ve never put one of my stories online before, so it’s awesome seeing that some people are liking it! 
> 
> :)


	13. Making Up For Interrupted Times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Smutty Warning* ;)

He opened the door, taking a few steps into the room. He tossed you on to his bed. It smelled like him. You took a deep breath in as you felt him lean over you. He pressed his lips to yours. There was such passion in his kiss.

He held himself up on his arms, but you wanted him closer. You wrapped your arms around his neck and shoulders, pulling him down to you more as you lied back on his bed. You heard him chuckle a little through the kissing. Now he was on his knees, straddling you. He pulled away, looking down at you. He had an extremely attractive, seductive smirk playing across his masked lips.  
You brought your hands up and began inching the bottom of his shirt up. He raised his brow at you, his smirk growing. “Impatient aren’t we?” He grinned, showing off his canines. Mmph. That damn smile.

You couldn’t hide the devious smile that brought itself to your lips. He seemed to enjoy it. He sat up, still straddling you, keeping you in place. He pulled his shirt up and over his head, revealing his muscled torso. You couldn’t help but take as much of him in as you could - your eyes traveled over his bare skin. You bit your bottom lip instinctually as your smile grew.  
You noticed his eyes lock on to your lips, he took a deep breath in as his lips curved up even more. Had you just found out something? ‘ _Lip biting..hmm_.’ you thought to yourself, as you watched him lick his own lips.  
He leaned down pulling your arms above your head and holding them there - pressing his lips into yours. You let out a small gasp, and he took the opportunity to gain entrance with his tongue. You met it with yours and the two began wrapping around each other, exploring. You loved the way he tasted. You could hear both of you breathing heavily, only letting up for quick breaths here and there.  
He kept your lips locked with his as he wrapped his arms around you, flipping the two of you over so that you were now lying on top of him. You felt his hands move up and began pulling the jacket off of your shoulders. You obliged by breaking the kiss and sitting up, now straddling him. You pulled the jacket off and tossed it over on to the floor. Before he could, you began rising your shirt, pulling it above your head and tossing it to the side as well.  
He began eying your nearly naked torso, only covered by your lacy black bra. He wore a delicious smirk as his hands came up to cup your breasts. He leaned up and began kissing your neck as his hands wrapped around your back. In one swift motion, he effortlessly unhooked your bra. His fingers immediately began pulling the straps down your arms, before pulling it off completely and letting it fall beside the bed.  
He pulled you up a bit as he lowered his head and began teasing your hardened nipples with his mouth. The warm sensation of his tongue dancing with your sensitive skin sent tingles down your body, causing your back to arch.    
He left your breasts and looked at you with a devilish grin, you couldn’t help but smile back. Every time - looking into his multicolored eyes, you’d began to lose yourself in them. He flipped you again, laying you down on the bed as he stood. His fingers found the buttons of your pants and began slowly undoing them. Teasingly slow. You could feel your body began aching for him. Finally, he slowly pulled them down and completely off. He placed his fingers against your throbbing sex - still covered by your underwear. “You’re wet, princess. I can feel it already.” His eyelids were heavy and his lips curved into a seductive smile. He slid his finger under the cloth and into you. You let out a gasp at the sudden feeling.  
More - you wanted more.  
You rose your hips up to him, pushing his finger completely inside. Letting out a small moan. He smiled at this - sliding his finger out and pulling your underwear off, tossing them somewhere behind him.  
You didn’t really care where, you’d find them later.  
He returned his fingers, but didn’t insert them this time. He slowly began rubbing up and down against your wetness, pressing against your throbbing button with his thumb. The smile on his lips showed that he was enjoying teasing you, dragging the feeling out and making you long for him. Your hips rose to his every touch - while you let out soft moans. Beckoning for him to keep going.  
Slowly he put a finger back inside - even more slowly pulling it back out, and returning with two fingers. You moaned at the deep feeling of his fingers rubbing up against your sensitive walls. You closed your eyes, fully enjoying the way he felt inside of you. Your hands wrapped around the blanket under you, giving you something to grip.  
Your eyes flew open as you felt the wetness of his tongue against your clit. You tilted your head up to see him smiling at you, now kneeling with his face between your legs. “I can’t have you laid out for me like this and not taste you, princess.” He kept eye contact as his tongue returned and began slowly licking and circling around your clit, purposely not touching it. His fingers still sliding in and out slowly. You let your head fall back to bed, your eyes shutting on their own.  
You could feel your pelvis twitching, aching for him to quit teasing, but then again...you liked it. It built up so much pleasure behind it.  
His hands came up to your hips, holding them down as his tongue moved to your throbbing button. You let out soft moans as he alternated between little flicks and full, slow licks, fully immersing you in complete pleasure. The feeling of his fingers working in unison with his warm tongue began to build your climax. You could feel yourself tightening around his fingers, becoming more and more wet for him. It began slowly, then quickly building. Rising from your pelvis and deep into your abdomen. You let out a high pitched moan as your climax crashed over you. Your legs went rigid as your back arched. You felt Jack rise your leg up over his shoulder, plunging his tongue inside you as he held your hips down. Slowly you began to regain control. You felt your hands loosen their grip on the pillow above you. You hadn’t even realized you’d found a pillow to grab on to.  
Jack let your leg down and slowly stood, wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand, and rolling his tongue over his lips.  
You watched him as you focused on breathing. You had forgotten how to for a moment there. God. He looked gorgeous. His hair was slightly messy, his tongue slowly dancing across his lips, shirtless - showing off his thick muscles, and slightly hairy chest, and his eyes...piercing into you. “You come easily, kitten” he chuckled, admiring your naked frame lying on his bed.  
You smiled back, “Or you’re just really good at that.” He smiled back, his canines appearing again. You felt your heart flutter. Every damn time. You sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. You could see his erect bulge through his pants. You brought your hands up and began unzipping them. He was wearing boxerbriefs this time. The tight, stretchy material outlined his member perfectly. Only increasing your arousal. You inched them down, freeing his fully erect self. You slowly moved your hand down his shaft, looking up at him. He took a deep breath in and pushed his pants down a little, letting them drop to his feet as he stepped out them. You watched as they fell. His legs were also muscled, his calf muscles were actually rather impressive. The only light was from the fish tank, that apparently went into the wall of this room as well. It cast a nice glow, enough to set the mood, but also enough for you to appreciate the handsome man standing nearly naked in front of you.

Jack smirked as he pulled you up to stand upfront of him - then turned you both around, pulling you on top of him as he fell back on to the bed. He pulled you down further and locked his lips with yours. Deeply and passionately kissing. You pulled away and scooted off of him, his brow raising as you did. You pulled his boxer briefs down and off of him, letting them fall to the floor. You climbed back on top of him, returning your lips to him. You couldn’t help how badly you desired him right now. You reached behind you and guided his hard cock into you.  
You let out a gasp at feeling how big he was again. You were quite wet though, and he slowly slid in deeper. You moaned as you buried your face into his neck. His scent increasing your pleasure. You heard him moan quietly as he slid in, his hands gripping the tops of your hips. You sat back up, placing your hands on his chest.  
Breathily, you managed to speak. “I forgot to tell you...you don’t have to worry about pulling out. I took the annual Hyperion birth control shot this year.” You smiled and bounced your brows at him.   
His lips curved up.  
“Even better, sweetheart” He then thrusted up, pushing himself deep inside of you. You moaned at the feeling. Tightening your grip on his chest. He began quickening his pace, bouncing you up and down on him. Your breasts bounced at every thrust, bringing a devious smirk to his lips. You began moving your hips with him, taking control. You leaned down, placing your lips to his as you rode him. You could hear his quiet moans, and feel his tight grip move to your waist.  
Eventually, he pulled his lips away from yours and flipped you over on to your stomach. “My turn to take control.” His voice dripped with seduction and power. You were weak against that tone. Your body ached to feel his control.  
He positioned himself behind you, pulling you up to meet him. His hands gripped your thighs as you felt him slowly push himself inside of you. You gasped, letting out a moan. The feeling was so different from this angle. He was deeper, his head rubbed against a different wall, and feeling his warm skin against your backside drove your mind wild. He began thrusting into you harder and faster. One of his hands reached up and held the side of your throat. His grip began to thrill you. He was in control, and you loved it. You breathily let out moans and little squeals at his rough and passionate love making.  
You felt your arms going weak, collapsing beneath you - causing your face to press into the bed, only your elbows and knees holding you up. His hands gripped tightly on your hips, you knew they might leave a mark. This only added to the thrill.  
You could hear his heavy breathing as he vigorously pushed himself in and out of you. You rather liked this position, with him in full control...your fantasies becoming reality.  
After several minutes, his pace quickened again, his grip became tighter. You moaned his name out in pure ecstasy. He let out a breathy moan as you felt his warmth enter you. He slowly pumped against you before pulling himself out and collapsing on his back next to you on the bed. He pulled you over on top of him and pressed his lips against yours. Softly this time. You kissed back before leaning back up to look at him. This all powerful man, fearsome to nearly everyone, was completely spent - lying on his bed next to you. You couldn’t keep the smile from growing on your lips.  
He opened his eyes and smiled back at you. “What?” He asked with a brow raising.

You shook your head, still smiling. “Just admiring.”

He chucked a little. “Yeah, I am pretty damn good looking.” You smiled, rolling your eyes. His lips curved up in response.  “Well, would you care to admire in the shower?”  
You nodded back as he rolled off of the bed, holding his hand out for you to take. You took hold as he led you to the bathroom door. He flicked on the lights, revealing a rather large tub and a large open shower. An opaque curved glass wall appeared to keep the water from going all over the room.  
You watched as he walked over and turned on the warm water. He glanced over to you. “Care to join me?”

You smiled, pulling your eyes away from his body and back up to his face, and walked over. You stepped into the warm water in front of him. You watched as he applied body wash to his hands and stepped closer to you. “Arms up.” He commanded with a smirk. You rose your arms up and he brought his soapy hands to your skin. He began slowly rubbing every inch of you - shoulders to feet in soapy suds. Once he finished he pulled you against him and began kissing you. Your arms wrapped around his warm, wet body. This felt so intimate, yet so pure.  
You pulled away and smiled up at him. “Do you always shower in your mask?”

He smirked and shook his head. “No. Not usually.” You went to open your mouth to add on. “Don’t even ask. It’s not gonna happen, pumpkin.”

You rolled your eyes playfully and turned to rinse the soap off of your body. You noticed him began to wash his own. You couldn’t help but admire, watching the soapy water run over his body as began rinsing off as well. He turned the water off and stepped out, grabbing a towel and handing you one as well.

•

After drying off, and wrapping the towel around you - you walked back into his bedroom and began looking around for all of your discarded clothing.

“Whatcha doin, pumpkin?” You heard Jack ask from the doorway of the bathroom.

Grabbing your pants and socks, you looked over to him. “Gathering my clothes to get dressed..?”

“You’re going to sleep in those tight ass pants?” He began smirking as he walked over to the bed. Pulling the comforter down and sliding in.

Your brows furrowed. “I...I didn’t think you’d want me to stay, honestly.”

He chuckled a little, “Well, I do. So you gonna climb in or not?” He flipped the other side of the beds comforter down, revealing the silky sheets.

You hid your growing smile, dropping the towel and the clothes you had gathered and climbed into the bed, next to him. He leaned over and pressed a button on some sort of remote causing the fish tank light to dim. Leaving only a very faint bluish glow to the room.  
You cozied down into the thick pillows and cool blankets. You felt Jack still moving around a little, and glanced over. You could barely see him now, he was more of a silhouette. You watched his hands come up and remove his mask, setting it on the table next to him. Your eyes widened. You had wanted to know what was under there for so long, now not even a foot from you...it was off. However, you couldn’t see a damn thing.  
Jack scooted down, and you could feel him against you. He was warm, and your skin tingled with the contact of his. You turned over on your side, and felt him do the same. His body pressed against yours and you felt his arm wrap around you, pulling you against his chest. You could feel his warm air as he breathed out, the rise and fall of his chest against your back. You began smiling, feeling the fluttering butterflies throughout your chest and stomach. You nuzzled your head into the pillow a little more, hoping you didn’t squeal with happiness.  
You felt Jack’s face nuzzle closer, and then his lips on your shoulder. His unmasked lips! For the first time, you could feel them. Granted, a shoulder isn’t the best place to be able to feel how soft they could be, but it sent your heart pounding nonetheless. You felt his lips smile against your skin, knowing he could feel your heart from where his hand was wrapped around you.  
You were pretty tired, even through all of the excitement of the evening. You slowly drifted off to sleep, smiling - completely content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter was shortish! 
> 
> I’m going to be trying to update at least every couple of days. I only really write at night when I’m not busy, so that’s why it may be a bit slower. 
> 
> I’m also going to try and start moving the story on a little more. Like having time skips and whatnot. At least here and there. 
> 
> The feedback that I’ve gotten so far has been lovely! Thank you, everyone who has commented and such! I love reading them! Also to everyone who has left kudos! 
> 
> :)


	14. Unmasked

**9:36 AM Jack’s Bedroom-Helios**

Your echoband dinged, notifying you of a new message.  
Your eyes slowly opened to see the room was still mostly dark. The fish tank light was bright again and you could see lights on the other side. You glanced over to see that you were alone.  
Adjusting your eyes to the bright holo-screen of your echoband, you saw that the message was from Emily. She was just letting you know that her night had gone well and that she got home safely. You decided to message her back later.  
You slid out of the large, very comfortable bed. You couldn’t recall the last time you had slept so well. You looked at your clothes on the floor. You didn’t really want to put your previous days underwear back on and your shirt was too small to cover you enough.  
The door to Jack’s room began to open, causing you to instinctually put your shirt against your body to cover as much as you could. You weren’t really sure why - who else would be walking around Jack’s place? Jack stepped in and smirked, raising an eyebrow to your concealing attempt. “Would you like a bigger shirt to wear?” He chucked, walking over to a panel in his wall and pushing a button next to it.  
The panel slid into the wall, revealing a nicely sized closet. Very well organized at that. He pulled a yellow Hyperion T-shirt out and handed it to you, still smirking.  
You let your shirt drop and went to take the one in his hand. He pulled it back. “Although, you could just stay naked.” He winked, giving you a gorgeous smile. 

  
You smiled back, plucking the shirt from his hand.  
“Haven’t you seen me being naked enough?”

“Never” his eyes dipped down to admire before returning to yours.

“This will do, thanks” you smiled and slid the shirt over your head. It was baggy on you and came to the tops of your thighs.

Jack eyed you - still smiling.  
“Ya know, since I _own_ Hyperion and you’re wearing _my_ shirt, with _my_ company name on it...does that mean you’re mine too?” His canines showed as he smiled.

You could feel your cheeks burning, not being able to hold back your smile.  
“I already told you that I’m all yours.”

“Just making sure, sweetheart” he pulled you against him, his hand on your lower back, the other tilting your head up to him. He leaned down to kiss you. You held your finger up against his lips. He stopped, raising his brow.

“I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.” You said matter-a-factly.

He rolled his eyes and let go of your face. “Fiiiine. I’ll wait.” His tone playful

You smiled back up at him. “You took your mask off last night..”

He looked at you with a raised brow. “Mhmm...I don’t usually sleep in it.”

“Aren’t you worried that I may have looked while you slept?” you questioned, with a small smile.

His lips curved into a smirk, as he let out a chuckle. “Nope.”

“Why not..?” You asked.

“I doubt you would’ve stayed if you had.”

Your brows furrowed. “Why?”

“Because I know what’s under there.”

“Maybe you’re wrong. You never know.” You smiled up him.

He chuckled again, letting you go as he sat down on the bed, leaning back so that his arms could prop him up. “Think so, huh?” You nodded back. “Alright Pumpkin. Look for yourself.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. Unsure if he was being serious or not. “Really? You’re not going to like... _kill me_ after this, are you? No one can ever see and live, type thing?”

He chuckled again, shaking his head. “No, I’m not going kill you.” His tone then became slightly more serious, and his eyes bore into you. “..But I do expect you to keep what you see to yourself.”  
  
“Of course...”

You took a deep breath in, as you stepped closer to him. His eyes watched your hands as they rose to his mask - but then closed. He didn’t want to watch your reaction. ‘ _Could it really be that bad?_ ’ You wondered to yourself before undoing the first clasp. As you did, you felt the “skin” of the mask begin to stiffen becoming more mask like instead of a second skin. You noticed his jaw tighten. You held the bottom as you undid the rest of the clasps. Slowly, you pulled the mask away. His eyes remained closed.  
You peered at the blueish vault symbol scarred into his skin, and over his eye. You slowly reached up and touched it. It was surprisingly soft. Jack’s eyes opened at your touch. “Does it hurt?” He shook his head no. The scar didn’t scare you, nor repulse you. You smiled as your fingers touched his real skin for the first time - caressing your thumb over his cheekbone. You noticed his brow raise, as he watched your face.  
“Still handsome.” You said smiling and meeting his gaze. “Just a little more badass looking this way.”

The corner of his lips curved a bit as he rolled his eyes. “You’re lying.”

“No. I’m really not. It doesn’t bother me at all. You’re still handsome to me. Maybe it’s the _Pandoran scum_ in me...but I don’t mind the scar.” He smiled, rolling his eyes again and taking his mask from you.   
You leaned forward, holding his face in your hands - as you pressed your lips against his. His unmasked lips. They were soft, and melded with yours even better than they had before. You felt your chest come to life with flutters and you couldn’t help but smile against his lips. You pulled away, looking into his eyes.

“I thought you were going to make me wait?” He asked, a smirk growing on his lips.

“I couldn’t resist.” You said shrugging. “That’s all you get for now though. I do need to brush my teeth.”

He chuckled as he stood and pulled you against him, wrapping his arms around you. You felt his nose nestle into the top of your head. This was new, _a hug_. You wrapped your arms around him tightly, smelling his wonderful scent.  
After a few seconds, you let your arms loosen. He let his as well, looking down you. “I told you that you’d be wrong” you said smiling up at him.

“You’re just full of surprises, (n/n).” [pick a personal pet name/nickname for yourself from Jack]

“(n/n)?” You asked, raising your brow.

“Don’t like it?”

Your lips curved into a smile. “No, I do like it.. I do have a couple questions though... how did it happen? And how are you not blind in that eye?”

“That bitch, Lilith punched a vault relic into my face, burning the symbol into me..and, I _was_ blind...but I was able to have a new eye made for me. Reconstructed from my dna. Works and everything.”

You knew of her. Another thing to add to the list of reasons why you didn’t like her.

•

After a little while you went home to freshen up. You messaged Emily on your way home to let her know that she could come over. She greeted you at your door as you walked up.  
Of course, she noticed the large shirt you wore over your pants from the day before. That brought a big smile to her lips.  
You both gossiped about your evenings as you brushed your teeth and washed your hair.

•

A Little Less Than A Week Later- Lunch Time

  
You sat down at your usual table and waited for Emily to join.  
The two of you ate and chatted.

“So, are you ever going to stay the night at your apartment again?” She asked smirking at you, stabbing at her salad.

You raised your brow at her. “What do you mean?”

“Oh you know..just that you’ve spent every night at Jack’s place this week.” Her lips still curved into a smirk.

“It’s _only_ Thursday” you chuckled, rolling your eyes at her.

“And you’ve spent the night there every night since Sunday!”

You looked down at the table, smiling. “He keeps asking me to stay...and I’m not objecting”

She playfully rolled her eyes and continued eating. “Well if you’re happy, I’m happy.” She said smiling. “You ever just stop to think about how a year ago you didn’t even like him?”

You just smiled back. You had thought of that. Yet, here you are.

•

The next morning you walked through The Hub Of Heroism towards the little coffee place that you went to nearly every morning. The always smiling barista hopped over to the counter to help you out. “Same as always, huh?” He always looked happy to see you, consistently smiling, and sometimes a little too talkative for it being so early.  
“Yepp, same as always” You smiled politely back.  
You watched as he got two disposable cups down. “So you’ve been coming here just about everyday for months and I’ve never asked what your name is.” He smiled, facing you now.

“Oh, it’s (y/n)” you smiled back, noticing his name tag. Ethan.

“Oh nice, that’s a pretty name for a pretty girl..um- woman. My names Ethan. I’d ask if you’d like to have coffee sometime with me, I know what you like, haha. Speaking of, do you get these both for yourself or-“ you noticed his eyes widen as you felt a pair of hands wrap around your waist, and a body against yours. Before you could look to see who it was, they spoke.

“How about you just do your damn job instead of flirting. Ya know, before something happens to it and you’re unemployed, or worse. M’kay champ?”

Jack. You could feel yourself blush from his public embrace. The barista- or Ethan, quickly turned and began filling the two cups and adding in the usual sweeteners. Jack moved to lean against the counter next to you, keeping a hand on your lower back while you both waited. “Is- is that all for you, miss?” Ethan asked, keeping his gaze away from Jack’s. You nodded. He pressed a couple buttons on an echo, bringing up your total. As always, you transferred the amount over from your echoband and took the two coffees.

“Thanks.” You said, giving him another polite smile before turning and walking to the elevator. Jack walked next to you, taking one of the cups from you. You could see everyone’s wide eyes, watching.  
You turned as the two of you stepped into the elevator. You noticed everyone still watching. Some even leaning around each other to see better. Jack leaned up against the back wall and pulled you to him, pressing his lips into yours as the elevator doors slowly shut.  
It was a deep passionate kiss, even more thrilling due to it being in a public place. The doors closed and the elevator began rising. You pulled away looking at him with raised brows. “Do you know how many people probably just saw all of that?”

He smiled back. “And?”

“And...you’re alright with that?”

“Yeeeaahhh... Are you not?” His brow raised. The elevator opened and he walked into your office area, you followed behind.

“I’m fine with it...I just figured you’d prefer to keep it secret.” You sat your things down and leaned against your desk.

“The only reason I would keep you a secret is to keep you safe. There’s a lot of people in this galaxy that want to kill me. I don’t mind letting these people know you’re mine, though.” He smiled and stepped closer. Giving you a soft kiss before winking and turning to walk to his office.

You sat down at your desk, smiling. You knew everyone around the elevator had to have seen that kiss. You had gotten looks from people since the Hyperion Ball/Party. The ones who recognized you from the picture taken with Jack. It was on the ‘ _front page_ ’ after all. This would surely earn you some new looks now. That didn’t really bother you though. In fact you kind of liked people knowing that the man they all feared and looked up to, treated you specially.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again readers! 
> 
> Just wanted to say thanks again for the kudos and comments! ^_^
> 
> The next chapter is already being written! It may be a couple days until I finish it and proof-read it, though! 
> 
>  
> 
> (\\__/)  
> (•ㅅ•) <3  
> / 　 づ


	15. Time Pass

**[Time Pass - A Few Months]**

You had grown even closer to Jack in the last 3 or so months. You frequently stayed at his place on the weekends, and usually had a bag with your toothbrush and other essentials. You slept better, wrapped in his arms. He had also gotten used to not always wearing his mask around you, which you enjoyed.  
He had given you a new and improved echoband. Since yours seemed to be shutting off by itself here and there.  
Emily had also continued seeing the same guy, apparently things were going well with him. Which was good, because she had been spending time with with him while you spent time with Jack.

Company meetings began happening more often with a couple of the rival companies. You were usually in the boardroom, attending the meetings as well. Taking notes, and watching the ways the men talked - picking up on subtle things. The way they looked when holding their “cards” close, or how bold they would get when they knew something the others didn’t. You had grown to read them easily. Making decisions for Hyperion’s future much easier to help make. Surprisingly, things were going well with them. It was mostly just ways to help everyone profit from the best selling strategies. There still wasn’t much trust between any of them, but so far it was working well enough. Sells for Jack’s line of new Tediore guns had risen, bringing in a steady flow of profit from the lower class budgets.

There had only ever been one person to comment on your attendance. It didn’t go very well for him.

  
Everyone had arrived to the meeting. Jack had sat down at the head of the large table, next to you and Hudson, a man who had worked his way up to being right under Jack. Well, as close to that level as you could be. He was another one who worshiped Jack. You didn’t care for him much, since he always seemed to be begging for Jack’s attention. It got annoying. Some of the ideas he’d propose weren’t bad though, and he was a good business man. You didn’t like the way he looked at you though. Sometimes it was like he was undressing you with his eyes, other times, usually when Jack would agree with you over him, it looked like he wanted to push you out of an airlock. When he’d catch you alone in the hallway or at your desk, he’d carelessly flirt with with you before resuming his ‘I’m better than you’ demeanor.   

*Back to the meeting*   
The man cleared his throat, calling Jack’s attention to him. “My apologies, Jack...but who is the young woman?” Motioning to you, instead of asking you, yourself.

Jack’s brow raised. “Her name is (y/n), and she happens to be my assistant.”

“Assistant? Does that actually give her a valid reason for attending these meetings?” His tone was condescending.

You noticed Jack’s eyes narrow. “Trust me, she deserves to be in here far more than your ass does. She knows the ins and outs of Hyperion and is very helpful with everything these annoying meetings cover. Patronize her again and you won’t leave this room alive.”

You kept your gaze on the man, noticing him shift uncomfortably.  
The meeting began. Eventually a topic was brought up, causing you to comment. Jack agreed, saying that you made a good point.

“I hardly believe you have enough knowledge on the subject for your comment to be worth while.” The man spoke up, not even looking at you.

Jack’s chair fell backwards as he stood. Causing nearly everyone, including you, to jump. He walked over to the man, grabbing his chair and pulling him back. The chair and the man fell to the floor. You quickly stood, watching as Jack grabbed the man by his collar and drug him to the window - slamming him against it. The man’s hands had risen in surrender, and he was pleading with Jack to let him go. The smile on Jack’s face told you that wasn’t going to happen. “And here I thought this meeting was gonna be boring. What did I say, champ?” His gold and black Hyperion pistol coming to rest under the mans chin. The man began frantically begging for his life. A loud bang silenced the room. The man fell to the floor as Jack let go, turning to face the room. “Anyone else wanna piss me off?” The room stayed quiet. Jack brought up his echo and requested a clean up. He walked back over to his chair, picking it back up and sitting down. “Alright then. Continue.”

•

Every morning Jack would pull you into his lap while he sat in his big chair, or set you on top of his desk, and talk with or kiss you until one of you, usually you, decided it was time to start working for the day. Sometimes they were deep, passionate kisses - other times they were light and sweet. Both, of course made you want to never stop.

•

One day Jack had asked if you wanted to go to Pandora with him the following weekend. Just to ‘ _have some fun_ ’ as he put it. You of course agreed, even if it was Pandora.

The two of you began spending some weekends on Pandora - with him showing you all sorts of things to do there. Racing each other in runners through the sands and hills, and the roads of the highlands. Avoiding bandits and all of the other native things trying to kill you. You’d spend the nights in Opportunity, safe and sound, wrapped in Jack’s arms.  
Some days he’d go out to work on business things, or to check the drilling project he was working on.  
He even began teaching you how to shoot various guns. Starting with stand-still targets and slowly moving up to living targets - such as spider ants or varkids, and eventually even a bandit here and there. He wanted you to know how to protect yourself while on this planet.

It was Pandora after all, and it was only a matter of time before you had come up against a small group of bandits. Believing the two of you as easy prey, they attacked.  
Your hands had shaken, your finger hesitating on the trigger of your pistol. Jack had killed the other two with ease, laughing as they were easily brought down by him. The third, now unarmed, cowered on the ground in front of you, your gun at his head. Jack stood back, watching to see what you would do.  
You had felt no compassion nor sympathy for the bandit. He had attacked you, without any reason. He had planned on killing you, and if not you...then the next poor soul that crossed their path.  
You took a deep breath in, tightening your finger on the trigger. A loud bang, and the lifeless body slumped over.  
“That’s a pretty little smirk you have there, Cupcake.” Jack mused as he walked over to you. You hadn’t even realized you were smiling, but it had felt...good. One less bandit.

You were a little nervous the day that Jack brought you to a ledge overlooking a bandit camp and handed you a sniper. You had grown used to the gun and were actually a pretty good shot - but you had never used it to help take down an entire camp.   
Your nerves quickly turned into thrilling satisfaction after lining up perfect headshots on unsuspecting bandits and watching as the others around them would scurry around looking for the shooter. Jack always seemed to enjoy your excitement even going as far as being slightly aroused at your killing skill. You couldn’t deny that the thrill did get the blood pumping.

  
You definitely weren’t the same shy girl you were when you had first met him, but you liked this you. People didn’t walk all over you anymore. Hell..even Hudson, admired you at times. Even if he did hate that Jack took your opinions and ideas into more consideration than his. You also weren’t afraid of almost everything like you had been. You were stronger now.  
Jack had shown you things you could’ve never imagined seeing or learning.

You had gained knowledge on many things about running a company, surviving on Pandora (if you had to), Vaults, and about so many things you had never even heard of. All while being wrapped in his affections and his spoils.

Life was going well...for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter didn’t really move the plot forward, but I wanted to show that some time had gone by. 
> 
> Also, Hudson is a made up fellow. You’ll hear more about him later and see why I added him in. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone reading!  
> Kudos and comments are super appreciated! 💛  
> Also, If you have any questions about anything that I may not have given enough info about, let me know! 
> 
>  
> 
> (\\__/)  
> (•ㅅ•) <3  
> / 　 づ


	16. Wildlife Preserve

“I’m heading down to my Wildlife Preservation. Wanna come?” Jack asked, leaning on the wall in front of your desk.

You looked up after finishing typing out a word.  
“For what? You hardly ever go down there in person.”

“Yeah, I got asked to come look at some progress updates. Shouldn’t be down there too long.”

“Sure. I haven’t gotten to see the facility yet anyway.”

•

After landing the private shuttle at the facility - the doors opened allowing access to the huge Wildlife Reserve. You had heard and read plenty of things about the studies and experiments going on here. A head scientist had asked Jack to come in person to check up on a special experiment involving some elemental things.

You walked with the two men as the scientist talked and showed various advancements or set backs. A lot of it was pretty impressive.  
After a little over an hour, an armored man came running over. He looked like a guard.  
“Sir. I was told to relay that a sniper has been spotted outside of the facility. We believe it’s one of the Vault Hunters. The one with the bird. We lost sight of him though.”

“Bird, huh? Greeeeaaaat. That’s what I wanted to deal with today.” Jack rolled his eyes. 

The scientist then spoke up. “I doubt it’s a real threat. If you’re worried, we can finish this some other time...or the lady can leave to ensure her safety. I haven’t showed you the elemental experiment you’ve been waiting for though... it’s just about ready now.” You noticed his voice was slightly shaken. Not uncommon for people around Jack, but his tone had changed. Maybe _he_ was worried about the sniper?

Jack turned to you. “Go ahead and head back to the shuttle. Take it back to Helios. I’ll head back soon, after I finish up going over the experiments. I’d rather you weren’t here with one of those bandits nearby.”

You wanted to protest. You didn’t care for the idea of him staying around with a possible threat lurking. The facility was very well guarded, even more so around Jack, but you still worried. You glanced over to the scientist. He seemed to be fidgeting with something in the pockets of his lab coat. He definitely looked nervous.

  
You left and began briskly making your way back to the shuttle landing area. You noticed the lack of guards, but didn’t think too much about it. Finally you rounded the corner into the long hallway leading to the desk area you had first walked past when arriving. From afar you noticed the loaderbot that had greeted you was leaning over in an odd position. As you got closer, you noticed bullet holes. You stepped closer, coming out of the hallway. Immediately your peripheral vision caught sight of two figures to your right. You spun on your heels, facing them. They didn’t look Hyperion.  
A tall, very large, muscled man with scars on his arms and a scrawny man with dreadlocks pulled behind his head, stood in the doorway leading to the outer shuttle bay.  
“Well hello little lady.” The large one spoke, his voice was deep and loud even at a normal volume.  
Your eyes scanned over them, noticing both were carrying guns.

“What do you want?” You spoke up firmly.

The smaller man chuckled a little. “Well if the scans are right... _you’re_ exactly who we’re looking for.”  
Your eyes widened. You felt your hand begin to reach towards your echoband. Instantly the smaller man had his gun aimed at you.  
“Ah ah.. I wouldn’t try that if I were you, chica. You make one move or sound and I pull this trigger.” You lowered your hands. “Alright now, my friend Brick here is going to give you a little sedative and you’re going to come with us. Someone’s got some questions for you.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” You snapped, glaring at the two men.

“You don’t really have a choice.” The large man spoke, walking closer to you. He towered over you. You realized running wasn’t really an option. You’d either get a bullet or tackled by a human tank. You stayed still. The man pulled out a small syringe and grabbed your arm - jabbing it in. You flinched at the sudden prick of pain. Your sight instantly began to blur. The vision from each eye began overlapping the other before completely fading to dark. You felt your limp body be heaved over a shoulder, and then nothing. Everything went dark and quiet.

•

***Third Person POV***

Jack continued on with the scientist for awhile longer. After being shown what he had come to see initially, he brought up his echo to call his shuttle back down.  
_Odd_. It indicated that it was still at the facility. Something was wrong. Immediately, Jack sent a message to (y/n)’s echo.

_Unable To Deliver_

He turned around to see the scientist standing against the wall. His expression was one of fear. Jack’s eyes narrowed and he began closing the distance between them.  
“Where the hell is she?”

“Please Jack, sir! I didn’t know they were going to take her! They said they just had some questions!”

Jack grabbed the man by his throat, holding him against the wall. The man’s hands clutched at Jack’s wrist and arm as he tried to breath. “Who is they? And where did they take her?” He growled.

The man gasped for air. “Plea- I cant-“  
Jack loosened his grip just enough for the man to suck in a gulp of air. “I- I don’t know where they went... they-they’re the vault hunters... the crim- crimson raiders!”

“You let them in. You led them right to her. And they took her.”

“Please! They- They said they would kill me if I didn’t help! They didn’t tell me they were going to-to-to take her!” The man shook in Jack’s tight grip. “They were going to shoot me!”

“Oh? They were going to shoot you? I’m gonna do a lot worse than that, shitbag.” Jack’s low voice growled his words. The mans eyes widened with even more fear.  
Jack yanked the man off of the wall causing him to fall over himself and smack on to the hard floor. Jack’s hand grabbed the back of his collar and began dragging him towards the creature enclosures.  
The man continued frantically pleading while Jack held him as he typed in the code for the Skag’s enclosure. The glass door slid open - Jack shoved the man inside and resealed the room. The man began pounding on the thick glass wall, begging to be let out.  
Jack smirked as he pointed behind the scientist. The man slowly turned. He had woken up the skags.  
Jack could hear the muffled screams of the scientist as he walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that most of this fic is only loosely canon related, so don’t get all upset if things don’t line up with the games. 
> 
> The story may speed up a little or have more time skips, or it may not. Not sure yet. I have plans for a direction that I want it to go - I just have to write the between parts first.
> 
> Thanks again for reading & for all of the comments/kudos! ^_^ I really do appreciate them all! 
> 
>  
> 
> (\\__/)  
> (•ㅅ•) 💛  
> / 　 づ


	17. Vault Hunters

** *Your POV Again* **

 

You could feel your  head pounding and an awful ache in your neck. Slowly, you peeled your eyes open. Your head hung down from your sitting position. You were in a old metal looking room. There was a light on above you, but it was a little dim. Sunlight peeked in through a few small holes and cracks. You must still be on Pandora, at least. 

You then realized that you were tied to a chair. Your hands pulled behind you - knotted together at the wrists, along with your ankles. 

_Bandits_ ? Had you been kidnapped by bandits? They hadn’t looked like the usual bandits you had seen. Then it clicked. The armored guard had mentioned a vault hunter being sighted. The vault hunters had taken you? Why? The one had said that someone had questions for you. You could figure those questions would pertain to Jack, but you weren’t planning on being forthcoming with any information. 

You heard something move behind you, followed by footsteps. You turned your head as far back as you could. The only thing you could see was a table behind you - you could see your echoband lying on its surface. 

“Hey, you’re awake. Guess I may have given you a little too much.” The large muscled man chuckled as he walked around the side of your chair, and leaned on the wall in front of you. 

You could feel yourself glaring at him. 

He let out a small laugh. “You got some daggers! If only looks could kill, huh?” 

 

You eyes narrowed even further. “I assume that you’re not going to tell me  where  I am - so I’ll just ask this. Why am  I here?” You asked with a sharp tone. “You said you had questions. Ask them.”

 

The man shook his head, his arms were crossed against his chest, one leg bent and propping himself up against the rust spotted wall. “Not me. I’m just the muscle of this little outfit.” 

 

You went to speak, but were interrupted by a door opening behind you. You noticed sunlight pour into the room, before disappearing again as the door closed. “Well, well... look who’s finally awake.” A soft, slightly raspy male voice spoke from behind you. “She’s a small thing, Brick. You gotta watch how much you give em’ pendejo.” The slender man walked around you and stood in the corner, arms crossing as he leaned into the wall with his shoulder. He looked over to you. At least, you figured he was...you couldn’t really tell due to the goggles he was wearing. “So. This is Jack’s assistant. Helps him with all his stuff, knows his secrets, and could probably tell us everything we wanna know.” His words were sing-songy. You glared back. 

The door behind you opened again. 

 

A woman’s voice spoke, as she walked around to the front of you. “She’s not just his secretary.” A red headed woman with blue tattoos down her left side, stepped in front of you. Her hand coming to rest on her hip as she stopped. An annoyingly smug smirk across her lips. “..She’s also his  lover .”You glared back. This had to be her. Lilith. The amount of attitude that oozed out of her instantly irritated you. “Sup?” She asked sarcastically, smirking down at you. 

 

You heard the bigger guy laugh, pulling your eyes towards him. “Seriously? How do you even know that, Lil?” 

 

She looked over to him, unamused. “I have my ways. He’s not exactly subtle when it comes to showing her off to everyone.” 

 

You heard the smaller man mumble “Damn..” under his breath. “So she probably knows more than we thought, right?” 

 

“Not necessarily, but that’s what we’re here to find out.” Lilith spoke, returning her gaze to you. 

 

You glanced between the three as they spoke to each other. You wondered how many more of them there were outside of this room, or shack..whatever you were in. All you knew for sure was that it was hot and this whole  being abducted business was  pissing you off. You weren’t afraid, which at first surprised you a little. Whatever these people wanted, they weren’t going to get from you. Even if they threatened killing you, at least they wouldn’t get any information. The only part about that - that bothered you was that no one would know what happened to you. How these so called “ _good guys_ ” kidnapped you and murdered you. Especially since you didn’t have your echoband. Not surprising for them to take it off. You wondered if Jack even knew you were taken. How long had it been since you passed out? 

 

You cleared your throat, coming out of your thoughts. The other three stopped talking amongst themselves and looked at you. 

“How long was I out?” You asked firmly, looking between the three. 

 

Brick, as you’d come to learn was his name, spoke up. “About 14 hours. I uh...heh..may have given you a little too much sedative.”

 

Lilith rolled her eyes. “Yes. So we’ve been having to wait for you to wake up.”

 

You sneered at her. “Oh, I’m  _so sorry_ that  my being knocked unconscious by your thugs was such an inconvenience for you.” 

 

“Ouch..” you heard the smaller man mumble again. You hadn’t heard his name yet. 

 

Lilith’s eyes narrowed at you. You stared back. 

 

“Alright look. We know Jack is mining for the vault and that he still has the vault key. I was able to teleport me and my men out after he...killed Roland...but I couldn’t get the key. Where is it and how close to the Vault is he?” 

 

You arched your brow. You had only heard a little about Roland. That he was Lilith’s, boyfriend? or something similar. Jack had told you about killing him after Angel had died. He had said that Lilith had gotten away, unfortunately. He didn’t talk about that day much, so you honestly didn’t know much more than that. 

You also had no idea where the vault key was...you did know all about the mining though. At least, how far along it was. A couple more months and he’d be there. All he needed was for the key to keep charging. Angel had been charging it, but now it was only slowly charging from the mined eridium and had been for a couple years now. Something Jack wasn’t too happy with, but couldn’t do much about at this point. It had been a slow, long process, but he was patient. He knew opening the vault would be worth it in the end. 

 

“Well?” Lilith interrupted your thoughts, her brows raised and both hands resting on her hips. 

 

“I don’t know about the key or the vault. He doesn’t tell me things like that. I only handle things that pertain to Hyperion” You lied, convincingly. 

 

Lilith scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Of course not. You’re just another little pet to follow him around and worship him, right?” You glared back at her, remaining silent. “Think he even knows you’re gone?” She chuckled. “Think he even cares?” 

You stayed quiet. 

“Handsome Jack is not a hero. He is not the good guy.” She spoke to you as if scolding a child. “Do you even know how many people he’s killed?” 

 

“And how many have you killed or manipulated in some way?” You demanded.

 

“He’s killed innocents. Many of them.”

 

“This is Pandora. How many do you really think were completely innocent? And how many of the people you've killed  may have been innocent? Maybe they were just down on their luck and crossed your path at the wrong time. Jack has killed plenty of people, I’m aware of that, but don’t pretend you’re so much better when you kill the people that are in your way as well. Entire bandit camps, Hyperion workers, other people just looking to survive on this shitty planet. You're the  bad guys to those people, don’t forget that.” 

 

Lilith stayed quiet for a moment, just glaring at you. The other two remained quiet as well. 

“We knew grabbing you would be easy. All we had to do was get that scientist to assign the guards to a different area so that we could get in. He got you away from Jack for us too.” She began pacing. “You see, he’s too well guarded - it would’ve been suicide to try to go in there and just kill him. But getting you, and all of the secrets you know about him will help us kill him in the long run. Plus, if he does actually care - then we’ve set the trap with bait, just have to wait for him to try and find you. Which won’t be easy since we turned your echoband off. He won’t be able to track you.” She smiled smugly. 

 

“And how do you know that I don’t have another tracker in my body?” You asked just as smugly. 

 

She chuckled a little, keeping her smug smile. “Oh, we thought of that too. We put a signal jamming device in here while you slept. During that time we ran some scans and figured out that you don’t have a tracker in you. Nice try though.” You heard the two men chuckle. 

You continued glaring. You had hoped that bluff would work. 

“So. Tell us what you do know .” 

 

“I’m not going to tell you anything.” You snarled back. 

 

She turned slightly, glancing over her shoulder at Brick. She tilted her head towards you. He stood up from his leaning position and cracked his knuckles. You glanced from him back to Lilith. 

Was this some sort of threatening ploy? You remained quiet. 

“Alright then, I doubt you’ll stay stubborn for long.” She motioned with her head again and the large tank of a man came to stand next to you. “Give her just a little taste.” 

 

Your brows pulled together as you glanced to the man beside you. Before you could react, the back of his hand crashed against your face. Causing your head to turn with the impact. Immediately, you felt pain on the entire left side of your face. Your lip stung and you could taste the coppery taste of blood. You opened your eyes, now facing the floor to your right from the powerful slap. You took in a deep breath, facing forward again. 

 

Lilith looked pleased. “Ready to talk now?” 

 

You licked your bottom lip, instantly feeling a sting of pain from it being busted. “I already told you. I’m not going to tell you people...You bandits, anything.” Instantly you felt the impact of the back of Brick’s hand again. The stinging pain coursed through your already pounding head. You felt blood trickle from your lip, down your chin. You kept your eyes closed for a moment, just breathing. Slowly you reopened them, and stared up at Lilith. 

 

Her mouth opened to speak before being interrupted by her echo spitting static. She pulled it out looking at it quizzically, and hit it a couple of times. “What the f-“ 

 

“Can ya hear me now?  _Good_. You have something of mine....and I want her back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow update, I hit a bit of a writers block for a few days. I’m thinking I’ll move the story along a little quicker now, at least in some spots. Sorry if that ends up being crappy /: Guess we’ll see!
> 
> Anyway, thanks again to everyone reading, commenting and giving/have given Kudos!  
> Keep it up, please! ^_^
> 
> (\\__/)  
> (•ㅅ•) 💛  
> / 　 づ


	18. A Familiar Voice

Your eyes lit up at the growling voice coming from the echo. You noticed the other three’s eyes widen as they heard it as well.

“How did he-“ The smaller man began to speak before being shh’d by Lilith.

You heard Jack dryly chuckle.  
“Oh. You know that echoband you probably took off of her. Turned it off so that she couldn’t be tracked? Well, it’s a brand new Hyperion model, babe. Has a power source in it that can keep its tracker going for weeks. Led me right to ya, assholes. Took a bit. It’s signal was jammed for quite a few hours, but then it just ‘ _poof_!’ went away! Ha! Did you friggin idiots turn off your jamming signal? Haha thanks for that!”  
You watched as the group exchanged glances.  
“So, unless you want that shitty little town to be leveled to the ground. Oh, and everyone in it to die. You’ll let her walk out and one of my bots will bring her back to me.”

“You’re bluffing.” Lilith spoke, her tone was no longer amused and smug.

“Is that you, Lilith? Oh, it is _so great_ to hear your voice. God, I just can not wait to slowly choke the life out of you. It’s gonna be fun. We’ll make a day out of it!”

“You’d destroy this town with her in it?”

“Oh you see, I won’t have to. That little tracker shows me _exactly_ where she is. It’ll be the only place that’s left untouched - and if you decide to play games and move the tracker away from her, and she _does_ die? I’ll bomb the entire place until it all crumbles into the water below.”

“Lil, there’s innocent people here-” Brick spoke up, stepping closer to her.

The other man chimed in “Yeah, the only reason we did this here was because we thought he wouldn’t suspect it...or find us”

“I know, damnit!” Lilith snapped back at the two. Starring down at the ground.

“Tick-toc-tick-toc.” Jack taunted mockingly. “You know I’m not always a patient man, Lilith. Better decide quickly.”

You stayed quiet as to not possibly earn another slap from Brick. You weren’t sure what these vault hunters were going to do. Would they let whatever ‘ _little town_ ’ you were in be brought to ruins just go against Jack? You wouldn’t be surprised, honestly.  
You stared, with narrowed eyes, at Lilith. She was pacing again. Still clutching the echo. The two men stood back, watching her, waiting along with you for her decision.

“Uh..Lilith?” The smaller man spoke up.

“I know. I know. I’m thinking!” She snapped again.

All of as sudden the sound of a far off cannon and something whooshing through the air appeared, followed by an extremely loud explosion that shook the ground, causing the metal room you were in to shake. The three vault hunters looked appropriately startled. You could hear some commotion outside.

“There’s one! Woo! This is gonna be fun!” You heard Jack’s voice come over the echo again. “Dont’cha just _love_ moonshots?”

You watched as Lilith paced, you could tell she was trying to think. “We can’t just let her walk out of here. This would all be for nothing. We need to know what she knows!”

“Wrong choice, babe.” Jack’s low tone growled out of the echo.

Almost instantly you could hear the sound of the moonshot being fired again. Twice this time, followed by their rumbling explosive impacts. It didn’t sound like either had hit a building or structure, at least not yet.

You looked back to Lilith. Her eyes were wide, but narrowed as she met your gaze. You smirked up at her. You could tell she didn’t like you, but the feeling was mutual, and right now..even with you being tied to a chair - she wasn’t getting what she wanted and you had the upper hand.

The moonshot cannon could be heard firing again. This time landing closer, causing the metal shack of a room, the four of you were in to shake and rattle violently.

“Lil!” Brick spat out loudly. Snapping Lilith’s glaring gaze from you.

“Fine! Damnit! We’ll let her go.” She said, storming over to the door to look out. “Untie her, but keep a hold on her! Stop firing, Jack! We’re letting her go!” You could hear her swearing under her breath as Jack darkly chuckled through the echo.

Brick walked over behind you, and knelt down. You felt your wrists being loosened from the chair and then your ankles. He grabbed your arm and pulled you up to stand. You felt him begin undoing the bindings on your wrists. Once out, your free hands rubbed the irritated skin. One of his large hands held on to your upper arm. You looked over and snatched your echoband off of the table. Brick looked down, noticing, but didn’t say anything. You imagined they were probably all rather annoyed that their little abduction plan didn’t work out.

“This isn’t over, Jack. We will stop you one day, and kill you.” Lilith spoke to the echo. You could hear the anger in her voice.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s what they all say, and they’re all friggin dead! Ha! Now be a good little taint, and do as you’re told.” You couldn’t help but smirk at Jack’s words. Even in this situation, he had all of the control.

Lilith turned from the door and looked directly at you. She looked beyond pissed, which was rather amusing to you. “Take her outside.” She stepped back, allowing Brick to lead you out.  
You squinted, letting your eyes adjust. It looked like the sun was going down soon. You could see several little metal buildings. Some stacked on top of others. It looked just as crappy as all of the other bandit overridden towns on Pandora. This wasn’t a bandit town though, you could tell that. You didn’t recognize it, but that wasn’t too surprising. You noticed the smoking impact sites of the moonshots, it didn’t look like any had hit the buildings. You wondered if that was on purpose.  
The other two stepped out and stood near you, looking up. A few seconds later, a loud crash startled the four of you. As the dust settled you looked up to see a large loaderbot standing up. It’s arm extended out towards you.

“Let her go.” You heard Lilith grumble. Her voice was still angry, but more defeated now.  
Brick’s grip left your arm, allowing you to step forward. The robots hand and arm wrapped around you, pulling you against its cool metal body. You felt it’s thrusters turn on and began rising up. Slowly at first, but then you felt the two of you blast through the air. You squeezed your eyes shut against the strong and loud wind, as you began flying through the sky. You peeked them open and looked down, over the bots arm. The green ground blurred beneath you, and then water. The bridge leading to Opportunity appeared and then the city itself came into view. Finally you were out of the hands of those vault hunters - no...those _bandits_.

The robot began lowering down into the city, coming to a soft landing before letting you out of its locked grip.  
You slowly turned, keeping a hand on the bot’s arm for stability. Your legs were still a little wobbly from the sedative. You glanced up to see Jack storming down the steps towards you.  
Once he reached you, his hand came up to your face, his thumb lightly grazing your busted bottom lip. His brows furrowed, as he eyed over your injuries. “I’ll kill them.” He said softy, pulling you against his chest and wrapping his arms around you. You hadn’t realized how much your heart had been pounding until this moment, when it finally began slowing down - calming itself.  
Your hand was still clutching your echoband. The little thing that had probably saved your life.  
Jack loosened his grip, looking down at your hand holding the echoband. He took it into his hands and fastened it back around your wrist. “We’re going back to Helios,  _now_.” He reached down and brought you into his arms, carrying you over to his shuttle. You let your head rest against him. You felt your eyes getting heavy, but you weren’t tired. Your head was still pounding, even more so after your introduction to Brick’s backhand.

•

Your eyes fluttered open to see a white room. It looked hospital-y. You must have dozed off. You pulled yourself up into a sitting position. An older man to your right turned at the noise of the raised bed creaking. He smiled “Ah, good. You’re awake. You have some minor bruising and a busted lip. I ran some scans to make sure nothing internal was injured. You do have a very slight concussion. Probably what made you pass out again on your way here. You should be alright though. I’ve already told Jack everything.” He motioned generally behind you.  
You turned your head to your left and saw Jack sitting in a chair against the wall, looking up at you. He stood and came to stand next you.  
“Can I take her home now, doc?” His voice sounded tired.

The other man nodded, removing his gloves and tossing them into the nearby trash bin. “Of course. She’ll be fine. Just a little bruised.” He sat down at a little corner desk and began typing on his echo.

You slid off of the bed with Jack’s hand to steady you. You both made your way to the fast travel station down the hall. Jack typed in a code and after a few seconds you rematerialized in front of his apartment door.  
You were glad he had brought you here instead of your place. You had grown to enjoy being here more. It felt more like home to you now, than the apartment you had lived in for the last four or so years did. Perhaps the present company helped that.  
You sat down on the comfy couch as Jack walked into the kitchen. You stared over at the aquarium, just watching the fish swim around. Jack returned and handed you some water before sitting in the chair opposite of you.  
You took a small sip, then realized how thirsty you were. You took a few more swallows before glancing up to see Jack watching you. He looked tense and tired. You sat your cup down on the coffee table.

“Are you alright?” You asked. Your voice soft with concern.

He sat quietly for another moment, looking down to the floor. He took in a deep breath, letting his eyes rise back to yours. “I actually felt... _afraid_...earlier, when I couldn’t find or track you. I had no idea what those...assholes would do to you. It wasn’t right for them to drag you into all of this. Their problem is with me. Not you.” You could hear the anger rising in his voice. “They murdered my daughter because they wanted to stop me. They’ve murdered other people close to me, because they wanted to get to me. - and now they took you, because they wanted me. They could have easily murdered you too. Yet they claim to be the good guys.”

“I’m alright though...because you _did_ find me.”

“Not soon enough. They hurt you.”

You chuckled a little, trying to lighten the mood. “Well, I wouldn’t tell them what they wanted to know. Does it look that bad?”

You noticed his lip twitch into a small smirk. “Well, you are a bit bruised, but still gorgeous.”  
You smiled back, trying not to stretch your busted bottom lip too much. “I don’t think we’ll head back to Pandora for awhile. They’ll probably be waiting for another opportunity.”  
You nodded back in agreement.  
You weren’t exactly looking forward to being taken and beaten again, so staying safe on Helios sounded like a good plan to you.

It was pretty late, and you both had, had a long day. After a shower to get all of the grime from Pandora off of you - you both decided to head to bed. It seemed like Jack held you tighter as he fell asleep. You hated that something had actually gotten to him to make him feel some sort of fear, but knowing that it pertained to you made you smile to yourself in the darkness of the room, as you drifted off to sleep as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for leaving you all on a cliff hanger last chapter! It will probably happen again though ^_^ 
> 
> Thanks, as always for kudos and comments! They keep me writing! 
> 
> Also, this story hit 100 kudos while writing this chapter! That’s so cool! Thank you so much!! 
> 
> (\\__/)  
> (•ㅅ•) 💛  
> / 　 づ


	19. Life Continues

You awoke to see that Jack was already out of bed. Your dreams had plagued you with the faces of the vault hunters, so you were actually rather glad to see that it was morning.   
You wobbled your half asleep legs into the living room. Jack was no where to be seen. You then remembered that he was probably in his office. This was the first time in nearly a year that you wouldn’t be working.   
You looked down at your echoband. Sure enough, it was blinking, indicating an unread message. Two actually. One from Emily and one from Jack.

Emily’s demanded that you call her.   
Jack’s told you to stay at his place and that he’d see you in a few hours.

Easy enough, although it brought on an odd feeling, not being at work. You didn’t want people asking or noticing your busted lip or bruised face though, and you definitely didn’t want people to think that Jack had been the one to cause them.   
You sent Emily a message, asking if now was a good time. As usual, you nearly immediately got a reply. You figured being at the greeting desk was only busy as long as new people were flowing in.

You tapped on her name, opening a call.   
Apparently, she had been trying to get ahold of you. Much to her surprise and worry, you let her know what had happened the previous day. Sparing some details. This didn’t seem to calm her down any, and she demanded that you stay away from Pandora. You of course, said that you would...but you weren’t quite sure if that was the truth or not.

The rest of the day went by much slower than usual. You settled on taking a shower and putting on some clean clothes that you had kept there. You decided to log into your work account and work on some little tasks to pass time.   
Finally, Jack came back. He seemed to be in a good mood.

He walked over, leaned down and gave you a long kiss.   
“You seem...happy?” You asked, arching your brow.

“Oh, I am baby. Set up a little trap for our vault hunters. Now all we do is wait.” He smirked back, sitting in the chair opposite of you.

“A trap?”

“Yep! Have it set up to look like Hyperions doing something out in the Tundra. They’re bound to go check it out, and once they do-“ he smiled, motioning finger guns shooting.   
You chuckled at his animations. You were definitely curious to see if this little trap would work.

As the two of you sat and talked - Jack informed you of the people who had taken you and the little town you were in. Overlook. He was actually a bit surprised to see that they had taken you there instead of Sanctuary. The latter being far better protected.

•

A couple weeks went by. You were thankfully able to go back to work after the first one. Staying away had been far too boring. Granted, Jack had surprised you a couple times during the week by coming home and breaking the monotony of the day with some _fun activities_.

“It worked!” Jack laughed, spinning around in his chair. “I knew they’d go check it out! Friggin bandits!”  
You arched your brow, waiting for him to explain. “My trap? They fell for it! Nabbed Modecai’s little birdie too.” His expression was amusingly devious.   
Since being back from Pandora - Jack had told you a little more about the vault hunters. Enlightening you on who the ‘ _one with the bird_ ’ was.

“What are you going to do with it?” You asked, sitting on the edge of Jack’s desk.

“Oh, I’ve got some eridium experiments going on her. She’s gonna be way more badass. And the best part? She’ll answer to me now.”

“You’re going to turn her against them?” You watched his smile curve up even more.

He nodded back. “You really want to get to someone? Don’t just attack them, it doesn’t mean anything then. No. Go after something they care about, take it from them and have it betray them. You wanna destroy a man, you don't need to kill him. You just need to kill what he loves.”

You had a small feeling he wasn’t just referring to the bird - but you couldn’t deny that it was a solid strategy.

•

**A Few Days Later**

You sat on the corner of Jack’s desk listening to him roar with laughter as the vault hunters fought the now enlarged, and elemental Bloodwing.   
“Just give it up, kiddo. Bloodwing’s got ALL the elements at her disposal! Slag! Fire! Electricity! Corrosion! And...and, uh...damn, I forgot the last one. What was it, again?”   
You eyed the screen displaying the fight, a small smirk rising on your lips. You knew Jack hadn’t forgotten what the last one was. It was just all part of his show. A rather amusing one at that. You did feel a little bad for the bird, but Jack had explained that with all of the eridium, she couldn’t really feel any pain anymore.   
The fight didn’t last too long before the bird was finally brought down with a tranq.   
“Oh, now I remember! EXPLOSIIIIIIVE!” You knew what that meant, turning your eyes away. It wasn’t really something you wanted to see.   
Jack laughed on and taunted the vault hunters. You decided to go back to your desk and work to finish up some things.

•

Things had seemed to get worse with the vault hunters. It seemed like each new week, they were attacking something new, or getting closer to their goal. Sure, Jack would give them several step backs - but Angel had told them just about everything they needed to know before she had died. Eventually, after several set backs, it seemed like they were holding back for awhile. Months went by without any large scale attack or big leap forward. It wasn’t comforting though, they had to be planning things.

•

With the Crimson Raiders/Vault hunters being quieter the past few months, things had grown a little less tense. Normal activity with Jack took over again, except, he didn’t bring you down to Pandora with him anymore. Not that he went as often as the two of you had - it was usually just business visits now.   
You still ate lunch with Emily everyday, attended meetings here and there, hacked into other companies to spy a little, and just generally went back to how things were before the Crimson Raiders had caused so much trouble all at once.

Life with Jack continued to go well. Every now and then you’d be surprised with little gifts. Flowers for your desk, lingerie, etc. However, the one you loved the most was a small eridium pendant, you wore on a dainty chain around your neck.   
In the back of your mind - you were always a bit surprised that Jack never tired of you. He still looked at you with the same devious smirk and lustful eyes, every time you’d hop up on his desk - causing your skirt to rise up your thighs a little. Sex had never gotten uninteresting with him. Each time was fun and fantastic. No matter where the moment arose. His desk, your desk, the boardroom, any room at his place, etc. You had never been so wild in your life, but you loved it. Being with Jack the last year+ had brought so much enjoyment to your boring life.   
  
You had never felt bored before, it wasn’t like you were begging for something to come along and change it - but there he was. The man you didn’t even like, the one you feared to ever meet - now gave you butterflies and tingles with every kiss or wink. His scent intoxicated you, and his touch melted you. Watching him exert his power thrilled you, and you couldn’t deny that you were completely hooked on Handsome Jack. You’d never tell him that you loved him though...  
Part of you was still afraid that would change things - and not for the better.

People around Helios began to know your name and face. You’d begun to notice their eyes widen as you walked by. You rather liked being recognized, something you hadn’t expected. You had always stayed quiet and in the shadows - but it felt good to be known.   
It had gotten out why Jack had initially picked you to be his assistant. You began getting more tech requests. Some, more difficult than your usual. Since your skills were good enough for The Handsome Jack, other people wanted to see if you could solve their problems too.   
Jack didn’t mind, he hardly ever had actual work for you to do anyway, and when he did - you usually finished it pretty quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to go with more time skips. Sorry! I know that’s a bit lazy on my part! Once the story moves along a bit more, I’ll try to make them happen less often! 
> 
> Anyway, thank you again to everyone reading, giving kudos, and commenting! 
> 
> 💛


	20. Dreams Don’t Always Go To Plan

 

You looked up from your computer as you heard the elevator doors open. You were greeted with a wink as Hudson strolled in, two other men behind him. You didn’t recognize one of them. He looked young enough in the face, but a bit older than you. He had dark hair that looked to be balding or maybe coming in? You couldn’t tell which. The other, was a man named Henderson. He worked under Hudson, but wasn’t near as annoying. He stuck to business and didn’t creep you out with flirtation. So he was good in your book.  
They both stood quietly behind as Hudson leaned his elbow on your desk.  
“Well good afternoon, gorgeous. Jack in?”

You arched your brow, showing your lack of amusement to his ‘ _compliment_ ’. “Yes, he is. Would you like me to ask if he’ll see you?” You tried to keep your tone as polite as possible.

“That’d be great, sweet-cheeks.” His smirk annoyed you. You held back a sneer.  
Almost every time that Jack wasn’t around, Hudson would put on this irritating suave act. Calling you pet names, eyeballing you, or winking at you. You knew Jack would space him if he found out, so you just dealt with it. It wasn’t hurting anyone, it was just annoying. You did find it fun to show him how uninterested in him you were. His look of annoyed defeat was almost worth his flirtations.

You opened the echo com to Jack. “Hudson, Henderson, and...” you looked over to the other man.

“Vasquez. Uh, Hugo Vasquez.” The other man spoke up, noticing your pause.

“Hudson, Henderson, and Hugo Vasquez are here to see you.”

Jack knew you didn’t care much for Hudson. You never told him exactly why, just that he irritated you.  
You noticed him chuckle a little. “Alright, send ‘em in. Oh and I’ll have some papers for you in a couple minutes.”

“Alrighty. I’ll be in in a few.” You closed the com and looked back to Hudson. He was still leaning on your desks upper part. Henderson began walking down the hallway. You arched your brow at Hudson. “You can go in now.” You couldn’t really hide the annoyance in your tone.

He gave you a smirk and pushed up from his lean. “Come on, Hugo.” He motioned to the hallway, walking away. You noticed the other man glance over at you before following.

You rolled your eyes and took in a deep breath - waiting for a couple minutes before going to Jack’s office as well. You knew he found it humorous to watch you and Hudson butt heads over ideas or decisions. Hudson wanted so badly to be just like Jack. Well, mostly everyone in Hyperion did. He however, fell short in your eyes. He had the asshole persona down, but you didn’t imagine he’d do well with full control, at least not for long. He was all bark and no bite.

You stepped into Jack’s office to hear him laughing, leaning against the front of his desk. The other man, Hugo, was rubbing his upper arm. Hudson watched with a smirk as you walked up the stairs. Gaining a smack to the side of the head from Jack. “Ay. Watch yourself, kiddo.” You couldn’t help but snicker to yourself. “Anyway, continue.”

You walked around the desk and stood to the side. Hudson cleared his throat and began speaking. “Well, I’ve got a couple good choices. Hugo was recommended. He works hard. The other guy is a techy-”

Jack chuckled. “Yeah, I know Wallethead. You’re still in the mailroom?”

The other man shook his head, “No sir, I’m now working a ways under Henderson. I uh..I hope to move up from that soon though.”

“Yeah... I bet you do. Doesn’t everyone?” Jack chuckled again. “Well it’s not really a big deal to me, Hudson. Give it some time and see which one is more impressive. Which one can do more for the company. At least Wallethead came to this little...meeting. What was the other guy’s name?”

”Oh, um..Rhy-“

”Nah, nevermind. I don’t really care. I’ll probably forget it anyway.” Jack waved his hand, motioning the thought away.

You watched Hudson nod back. “Well, that’s all then. I’ll..uh, I’ll see myself out.” He gave you a quick smirk as he and the other two made their way out. You couldn’t help but narrow your eyes at him.

Jack turned to you, smirking. “He’s trying to find someone good to become his lackey basically. A couple low level guys keep doing things to kiss up to him, trying to outdo each other. Not that he really needs either one, but it’ll be fun to see if they can bring in anything good to the table.”

“So...Wallethead?” You asked, giving him a quizzical look.

“Haha yeah... He has this weird flap of skin on the back of his bald head. We sometimes stick money to it. He’s going through hair implants now, not as much fun anymore.”  
Jack seemed genuinely disappointed that he couldn’t stick money to the man’s head as much as he used to - which you found oddly funny in itself.

“I’m just going to leave that one alone... you said you had papers for me?”

“Oh. Yeah, just some more crap from the other companies. Same as always, read through it - make sure I didn’t miss anything.” He handed you the papers and you made your way back to your desk to start on them.

•

**Time Jump**

All in all - it had been nearly two years that you had been working as Jack’s personal assistant. By now, you couldn’t imagine life without him.

He was getting more anxious for the vault. He’d begun taking weekly trips for a day or two to Pandora to watch its progress firsthand.  
The vault worried you. Jack claimed he could control what was in it, but would he really be able to? The idea of cleansing Pandora of all of its filth appealed to you. You had no love for the planet or anyone on it. You had often wondered if that was wrong of you, but even so...part of you wanted to see it happen, to see Pandora become something else. Something better.  
Mining had now reached the vault. It was only the key that stood in the way. It still wasn’t charged completely. As much as you didn’t want Jack to enter it, you wouldn’t ever ask him not to. He had lost so much for this dream.

Unfortunately, the Crimson Raiders had heard how close he was to his goal as well. They wouldn’t be able to get past his security measures easily though. At least, that’s what you all kept falling back on. Maybe it was just hope.  
That was, until reports came in that they were planning an attack on Opportunity, to find out exactly how to bypass those security measures.  
They had attacked Opportunity once before - before construction had finished. That’s how they had gotten to Angel.  
Jack planned on ambushing them this time. Something you weren’t very overjoyed to hear.

•

You stood in the warm water of Jack’s shower, eyes closed and still catching your breath from the passionate love making you’d just had. You felt Jack’s hands slowly wrap around you, pulling himself against your wet body - joining you in the warmth of the shower. Leaning your head back against his chest, you smiled to yourself as he placed a soft kiss on your forehead.  
The smile was fleeting, however. His plans for an ambush were worrisome and kept worming their way back into your thoughts.  
You turned and wrapped your arms around him, burying your face into his chest. You felt his chin rest against your head, his arms tightened a bit - fully wrapping around you.  
You didn’t want this feeling to ever end. These moments of being cocooned in his arms, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing, his warmth.  
“I’ll be back, (y/n)”  
His voice softly broke through the continuous flowing sound of the shower. His tone was gentle, not laced with his usual cockiness.  
You felt his hand move up your back, pulling away from you just enough to lift your chin up. His mismatched eyes looked down at you, framed by the blue scar. You could stare at this view forever - he was captivating.  
He leaned down, placing his soft lips against yours - melting you against him.

•

The next morning after learning of the upcoming assault, Jack left to lead the ambush. He wanted to personally take Lilith out of the equation.  
You couldn’t stop your nerves from rampantly fluttering through your stomach.  
Once there, Jack echoed to let you in on how things were going. He seemed confident - not surprising. The Raiders hadn’t gotten there yet, but had been sighted making their way there. The city had been evacuated to the bunkers underneath it. Your call ended with him saying that he’d be back soon, back in his usual cocky manner.

•

The next night he called again. The ambush had worked, and he had trapped Lilith. Now _she_ was charging the vault key. You weren’t sure how long it would take her to charge the key, or how he even managed to trap her. He said he would explain everything once it was over.

 

Jack had been down on Pandora for over a week - working on “ _vault things_ ” as he put it. He stayed purposely vague. He knew the vault worried you. Even if you didn’t openly say so.  
The vault hunters had discovered where the vault and Lilith were, and he knew they’d be coming soon. He didn’t say much, or couldn’t. So much was happening down there, and you were stuck up on Helios.

“ _Don’t worry. I’ll be back, Pumpkin_ ”

•

It had been several days since you’d heard from Jack. It wasn’t uncommon for that to happen when he got busy. It didn’t worry you most times. He knew how to protect himself. This time, however, you knew he was planning something with the vault.

Fortunately, you still had work to do to keep your mind busy. With Jack being busy on Pandora, running Hyperion and the business with the other companies was being secretly handled by you. It wasn’t much, just a reply here or a small decision there. Jack had asked you to pretend to be him until he got back. You did know more than most and were by far trusted more. Easy enough. You just had to act like you were too busy to take video or voice calls, and keep up the arrogant appearance of being Handsome Jack.

 

•

 

You looked up as the elevator opened. “ _Oh great_..” you thought as you saw Hudson walk out. “Jack isn’t back yet.” You said as he came to stand in front of your desk.

Be cleared his throat. “Yes...I know. I actually came to talk to _you.”_

“Alright. What is it?” You asked, letting your voice sound less irritated than it usually did when talking to him.

He took in a deep breath. Pausing a moment. You watched his eyes travel over your face. “Um... it has come to our attention...that Jack didn’t make it out of the vault.”

You immediately felt your heart drop. “What do you mean, he didn’t make it out? He summoned The Warrior?”

“Crimson Raider reports show that the vault hunters killed The Warrior....and then they killed him, we believe. We sent a team to extract his body, but...it wasn’t found. There was a lot of lava though, it’s possible his body fell in.”

You stared back at him, unable to speak. The thoughts in your mind were everywhere and no where all at once. You could feel each pounding beat of your heart. Your head immediately began aching. “How- how long have you known? If you were able to send in a team-“

“A few days...”

“A few days?!” You shouted back. “Why was I not told before now?”

“We needed to make sure before we told everyone. I’ll be making a station-wide announcement tomorrow. I’m...I’m sorry (y/n). I know...I know that you two were...close.”  
You sat silent. Staring down at your desk. You could hear your heart pounding in your ears. Your stomach felt sick, and it felt as if all of the pressure in the room was weighing on you.  
Henderson cleared his throat again. “I uh...In the absence of a body, we can’t 100% confirm his death. Therefore, until proof is found, technically, he is still the president of Hyperion. As the next down the line though, I will be in charge of what happens with this company.”

You looked back up to him, your brows pulled together. You had no words to say.

He paused for a moment, just looking at you. “Anyway...I wanted to offer you the position of being _my_ secretary now. That way you aren’t unemployed or knocked down to a worse paying position. You know what you’re doing, and I could use someone with your skills. You don’t have to answer right now. I - I imagine you’re in a bit of shock. We all are, really. If you do decide to, I’ll be taking over a new office as my own. It uh, it has a great view.”

  
You glared up at him, unable to join him for being happy about a “ _great view_ ”. He patted your desk before turning and walking back into the elevator. “Think it over.” He gave a half smirk, before disappearing behind the closing doors.

 

You sat. Bewildered and paralyzed. Jack was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, that happened.  
> (⊙﹏⊙*)
> 
> It’s been planned for awhile though. The story isn’t over yet...but you’ll just have to wait and see where it goes. 
> 
>  
> 
> I’ll try to update soon!


	21. A New Position

You lied in your bed staring at the wall. Everything felt numb. It seemed liked every memory you had with Jack was flooding your mind. Playing out like a timeline, until an abrupt end. Tears slowly slid down your cheeks, wetting the pillow.  
You hadn’t told Emily yet. You weren’t sure you’d be able to say the words. She, and everyone else on Helios would find out tomorrow. An announcement would be made and Hudson would take over general command.

•

You stayed away from work for a couple days. Not that you really had a job anymore, unless you took Hudson up on his offer. You may despise the man, but it was probably the only chance you had at keeping something remotely close to your usual job.

You forced yourself to leave your apartment. Slowly, you made your way to the fast travel station.

Rematerializing, your eyes opened to see the door to Jack’s apartment. No one but you could get in there, and it would stay locked forever now.

You stepped closer, leaning your head against the cold metal doors. You could feel the tears forming again. Keeping your eyes closed, you moved your hand over to activate the doors scanning protocol.

“ _Welcome, (y/n)_ ” the female robotic voice spoke.

You heard the doors slide open in front of you. Your eyes still closed - you stepped through the doorway, allowing them to close behind you. The clean, powerful scent of Jack slowly crept up and wrapped its self around your nose. It proved to be the final straw.

Tears began flowing, streaming down your face as you fell to your knees in the entrance of the room.  
Everything you had been trying to numb the past few days began flooding through you. Your sobs echoed in the quiet, dark room. The floor was cold and hard, but you couldn’t bring yourself to stand. Your entire body felt heavier. As if this heartbreak was a physical force blanketing you.  
Your eyes, now adjusted to the dark began to pick up the dim glow of the aquarium. You opened them and looked over at it. The large fish swam around - carefree, only waiting for their next meal.  
You wiped your eyes, allowing you to see through the still flowing tears. You crawled over to the tank, pressing your open hand against the cool glass. You let yourself focus on the patterns of the fish. Swimming around the plants, pecking on the rocks at the bottom, and occasionally chasing the smaller fish until they swam into a hiding spot too small for the other. For so many months, you had watched these fish go about their lives. They had always calmed you. They couldn’t stay here alone though...they would die too.

You didn’t plan on visiting this place again. You were just here to get your things. The fish had slipped your mind until now, but you couldn’t let them eventually starve.  
You brought up your echoband. After scrolling for a bit, you found what you were looking for and opened a call.  
  
The fish would be moved into a different area of Helios. Somewhere where they’d be taken care of.

Eventually, you stood and walked into Jack’s bedroom. It smelled even more like him in here. You could feel your knees weaken, and that heavy feeling returning. You forced yourself not to linger and began stuffing all of your things into a bag.  
Only one more time that you’d have to come back, to help with the fish, and then never again. At least that’s what you were telling yourself now.

•

The next day, you opened the door for the men transporting the fish. They didn’t seem aware of who’s apartment they were in. All the better.  
Later that day, you heard the Helios wide announcement of Jack’s presumed death, and of the memorial that would be held. You buried your head into your pillows, trying to drown out the words. It didn’t help, you already knew what they were.

Shortly after, Emily’s name flashed onto your echoband. You didn’t answer the call - instead sending her a message. She got the point.

•

The following week, you decided to go talk to Hudson. You showered, put your makeup on, and dressed in your usual job attire.

He had taken someone’s office, you weren’t sure who’s.

You made your way down the long hallways, and around a corner - finally arriving outside of the large metal doors at the end. Another large picture of Jack’s grinning face and open arms was lit up on the wall at the end of the long hallway, next to Hudson’s new office door. The large yellow text of HYPERION positioned perfectly between his hands and across his abdomen. You tried to stop them, but your eyes rose up to his. You stared up into the mismatched emerald and sapphire eyes. Your thoughts flashed back to the last time you’d looked into the real ones.

  
Jack had woken up early to leave for Pandora. Bustling around as he got dressed and gathered the few things he’d need. Only once he was completely ready did he finally slow down.

After kissing you goodbye - he held your face in his hands as he looked down into your eyes.

“ _I’ll be back, Pumpkin_.” Those damn words had been repeating in your mind since he’d been gone. But he didn’t come back. 

Your arms had held tightly around him. You didn’t want to let go. You had, had an awful feeling about him going down there. Only now, did you know you had been right.

You could see the tiny swirling slivers of gold in the layers of his green eye, not apparent unless you look close enough. Only adding to the overall brilliance. The blue eye resembling the bright blue waters of planets you had only ever seen pictures of. Streaks of dark and light blue swirling around the black pupil. Both eyes’ taking on the appearance of glowing by being circled by the darker edge.

How badly you wished you could look into them again.

  
The door slid open. Hudson looked up from his desk, a smirk appearing instantly.  
“Well hellllllo, (y/n). Have you decided to take me up on my offer?” His tone was arrogant, like he knew he’d be seeing you soon.

You walked in. It wasn’t near as large as Jack’s office. It did have a nice view of Elpis though. It wasn’t very decorated - very minimalist, actually. There was another desk in the corner, closer to the door.  
You sat down in the chair in front of his desk.  
“I came to discuss it, yes.”

“Good. Look, I’m not going to tip-toe around everything. Business goes on. I need someone like you to help me with everything, and you need a job. Honestly, it’d be best for both of us. Running Hyperion isn’t going to be easy, but I believe Jack picked the right man to do it.” His expression dripped with smugness. You had to hold back your desire to glare at him.

“Jack didn’t pick you. You just happened to be in the right position at the right time.”  
  
You noticed a slight drop in his smug smirk, but it quickly returned. “Either way. I run it now, and that’s really all that matters. Jack’s gone, and he’s not coming back.”

The words still stung to hear, but you held your emotions off. He was right, after all. “Fine. I’ll take the job.”

Hudson’s smirk rose into a smile. An unnerving smile, at that. You weren’t sure what working for this man was going to be like, but you already knew you weren’t going to enjoy it.

•

The first month went by dreadfully slow.  
Jack’s office had been locked off, and the area that used to be your office was now being turned into some kind of museum, by Hudson’s orders.  
Jack’s diamond pony was also returned from being in Opportunity. Apparently she went into a frozen stasis after a few weeks of not seeing Jack. You understood her pain, you missed him too. She was set up inside of his office, as part of the future display. You felt bad for her...she was always so happy every time you had seen her.

Hudson constantly had you doing things for him. He seemed incompetent of doing nearly anything himself. Either that, or he just didn’t want to.  
There wasn’t a single thing that wasn’t passed through you. You wrote all of his meeting pitches, wrote down, read through and simplified everything that came out of every meeting, dealt with anyone he couldn’t be bothered seeing, and just about did his job for him - while he soaked up the recognition of running Hyperion.

Henderson had stayed in his position, but was often in Hudson’s office _trying_ to run things by him. You may have been his secretary, but Henderson was still the one who always tried giving him the newest, most promising ideas that other Hyperion workers had come up with. Hudson usually didn’t pay them much mind. He always thought his ideas were superior. The few he had.  
Although, it was usually you who Henderson ended up seeing. Hudson usually had something better to do. Like golfing in Helios’s indoor golf range, drinking and smoking cigars with other higher ups and board members, and generally just using his new position to have whatever he wanted.  
This was only the first two months. You could tell it was only going to get worse if nothing changed.

•

After another month went by, a couple of the rival companies withdrew from working with Hyperion. It showed how awful Hudson really was, if people were more willing to work with Jack. Except they weren’t afraid of Hudson, they just couldn’t stand working with him.  
Hudson had also decided to start cutting costs by using cheaper materials. Hyperion products began breaking, malfunctioning, and all in all becoming worse. Because of this, sales started dropping. Pay was lessened for nearly everyone, except Hudson, of course and the ones he wanted to keep on his good side.

More complaints meant more problems for you. Everyday, calls would come in from various departments - relaying all of the complaint calls they were receiving. Unfortunately, Hudson deemed the job of dealing with each complaint, a good job to add on to your list.  
Saying that life had gotten much more difficult since Jack had died, was a huge understatement. Not just to you, and all of Hyperion - but to many parts of Pandora as well. Reports showed bandit and outlaw percentages rising at an alarming rate.

Some days were worse than others, but by now you had grown nearly numb to everything. You had hardened since Jack had been gone. You didn’t cry when a memory of him appeared in your mind, it usually just felt like another piece of you chipped off and crumbled. More often than not, all other emotions were replaced with variations of anger. People annoyed you far quicker than they used to, and you had grown to have nearly no tolerance for ignorant or annoying people.

You had even grown to usually ignore Hudson’s many flirtations. You knew if you lashed out at him, that you would lose this job or even your life. You couldn’t lose even more, staying this busy was the only thing keeping you going most days. Even with his flirts growing more and more bold. He didn’t settle for just smirking or winking at you anymore. Occasionally after shooing you off to do something else for him, you’d receive a swift slap to your ass. Sometimes he’d even sneak up behind you, running his hands down your figure as he gave you yet another job to do for him. He’d hinted many times at the two of you spending some _alone time_ together, demanding that one day you’d agree to it.  
These types of things happened daily, and as much as they disgusted you - there wasn’t much you could do.  
Another annoying part was having your desk in his office. He could sit at his desk, just watching you as you worked. It was a bit unnerving every time he did it, and it was usually for quite awhile, until he got a visitor or something came up.

You'd walked in once to find him beating off at his desk - with him not seeming too phased and asking if you’d like to join. Which of course was met with you turning and leaving the office as quickly as you could. 

•

The doors to Hudson’s office slid open. You looked up from the stack of papers littering your desk in the corner of his bleak office. The man himself sauntered over, his hands in his pockets. He had on his usual smug grin.

He wasn’t an overly attractive man. Not ugly either. He could use a beard or something, maybe that would help. Apparently other women seemed to like him, though. Well...they liked his money. He had quite the following each time he went out for drinks or threw a party. Which made him believe that all women would want him. Another boost to his wrongly inflated ego.

He stopped in front of your desk, looking down at you and ignoring the large amount of _his_ work on it. “(Y/n), you’re looking lovely as ever.” His tone always sounded like he expected you to fall at his feet and begin begging to sleep with him.

You let your eyes glance up to him, rolling them in the process, not moving your head in his direction. You went back to working on your papers. “Do you need something? Because I have quite a lot to do-“

“I see that. You’re doing a great job though. Far better than I could, maybe. I just don’t have the time for all of that... _menial_ labor.”  
You paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath to calm your growing annoyance.

“Do you. Have. Something. You need?” You asked again, trying to hold back your sharp tone. Now looking up at him.

He smirked down at you. “You know, Jack really did know how to pick ‘em.” He began, ignoring your question. “I mean, you are a stunner. A little fiery, but I imagine that can be worked out of you over time.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Mr. Hudson.” You began, keeping your voice as polite as you could, although failing a bit. “I’ve told you many times before. I’m not interested, and it’s not going to happen. You’re just wasting your time. _You’ll get it through your head one of these days_.”

He took in a deep breath, his eyes narrowing as well. He pulled his hands from his pockets and walked to the side of your desk - next to you. You kept your eyes down and on the various papers. His hand came to rest on your shoulder, griping it uncomfortably. You tensed at his touch. “Stand up.” He snapped his finger, pointing up. His voice had lost all of its flirtatious quality, now it was demanding and low. You took in another deep breath and pushed your chair back a bit - standing up at his order. His hand came up and gripped your jaw, painfully. He kicked your chair out of the way, sending it rolling a few feet away.

Quickly, he pulled you back against the wall, still standing to the side of you - holding your face. You could hear his angered breathing, as he leaned closer to your ear. “How many times have we talked about your attitude? I’ve been nice. I’ve let it slide, but I’m getting tired of it. You’ll watch what you say to me, or I’ll make that pretty little smile of yours not so pretty anymore.” His tight grip snapped off of your face as he turned and stormed out of his office.  
You stood with your back against the wall for a moment longer. Hudson had never scared you. They were always empty threats. His grip was always painfully tight though.  
You pulled your chair back over and continued working. He’d be back eventually, and as always, act like nothing had happened. You imagined it was to keep his ego intact, acting as if you hadn’t turned him down...again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for that cliff hanger last chapter! But, the story goes on! 
> 
> Also- I love reading your comments! I might not respond to them all...but I’m definitely reading them and I love getting them!   
>    
> Thanks for continuing to read and let me know what you think! 
> 
> I know I’m not a very good writer, but I’m really grateful that you guys are liking it...or at least still reading! So thank you! 
> 
> ^_^ 💛


	22. Signed In Blood

“He’s killing this company.” Henderson sighed, looking at his echo - sitting in the chair he had pulled over to the front of your desk. “Our profits, and not even including our ratings, have gone down by nearly 30%, and he’s only been in charge for six months.”

You nodded back in agreement.  
“I’m doing everything I can, but he has final say. I can’t override his tide of bad decisions.”

It had become a usual thing over the past few months for Henderson to come in looking for Hudson and settle on just sitting and venting with you over your mutual boss. You weren’t sure how he’d been able to work under him for so long. He claimed that Hudson didn’t used to be _as_ bad as he was now, with all of the power at his fingertips, although he was never easy to work with.

“Yeah. I didn’t think he’d be this bad. Too much power, too quickly. I’m glad it wasn’t me though. I wouldn’t want the job. Too much to deal with.” He said, shrugging.

“I already know I could run this place better than him. I’m basically doing it now.” You chuckled back in response, earning a slight grin from Henderson.

As usual, your conversation was cut short by Hudson finally making an appearance and pretending to listen as Henderson pitched him some ideas.

It had been six long months. You hardly saw Emily anymore, you were always too tired to hang out with her after work and Hudson demanded that you had lunch in the office. Maybe it was for the best. She was still her peppy self, _you_ were not anymore. When you did spend time with her, you felt yourself wanting to go home to the quietness. To just be alone to read or work on things.

•

You sat alone in the office, working on editing a speech that Hudson planned on giving at this years Hyperion ball/party. It was still a month out, but he wanted to have it early in case he wanted to change it a few times.

The doors slid open, and Hudson walked to his desk and sat down on the front of it. You glanced up to see him staring at you.  
“Yes sir?” You asked, setting your pen down.

“Just admiring the view.” He smirked back you, adding on a wink.

You looked back down and continued writing. “I’m sure there’s better things you could do with your time, like actually working...” You mumbled, loud enough for him to hear.

“Come here.” You looked up to him. He motioned in front of him, pointing at the floor. “Stand in front of me.”

You stood, letting your pen drop on to the desk top. You walked over, and stopped in the general spot he had pointed at. His eyes ran up and down your body, as his lips kept their smug smirk.

“When are you going to give in?” He asked, keeping his smirk, causing your brows to pull together.

“Excuse me?” You asked.

“Oh come on. You’re smart, (y/n). You know what I’m talking about. It’s been over six months that you’ve been working for me, and you haven’t given into me. It didn’t take you this long to hop on Jack, did it?”

Your expression showed a bit of shock at his statement. There was plenty of rumors that you had heard about you and Jack, mostly because of his rare moments of pda (public display of affection) - but not many people actually knew of your romantic relationship with him or how close the two of you had actually gotten.  
“I....”

Hudson rolled his eyes, holding back a laugh. “Oh please. Everyone knew you and him were screwing. It was heard outside of his office doors plenty of times, by a few people - myself included. Kind of obvious when the CEO’s secretary isn’t at her desk and you can hear some girl getting fucked in _said_ CEO’s office. Nice noises, by the way. I can’t wait to hear you scream my name like you screamed his.” The look on his face disgusted you. He seemed proud of his voyeurism, and horribly confident that he’d have you in the same way.

Your mouth had dropped open by the end of his words. You snapped it closed, glaring at him. “That will never happen. I will never sleep with you.” You spoke through nearly gritted teeth.

His brows pulled together, bringing an expression of anger to his face. “What!? You really think _I’m_ not good enough for you? I own this place now. _Me_! For all intents and purposes, I am Handsome Jack now!”

A laugh shot out from your lips before you could stop it. Your expression twisting into a snarl. “You’ll never be close to what he was. Compared to him, you’re nothing.”

He smiled back smugly - letting the room fall silent for a few seconds. His dark eyes unnervingly stared back at you. “I’m alive.”

You stayed silent. Glaring at him.  
  
He stared back silently as well for a moment before walking around to the back of his desk. “You know, I didn’t have to give you a job. I could’ve just let you fall, but I didn’t. Out of the kindness of my heart, I helped you. Sure, I did expect at least little head here and there..but who wouldn’t? ” He paused for another moment, bending down and opening a drawer. “...and what kind of gratitude have you given me? None. I’ve asked plenty of times. I’ve given you so many chances to give into me willingly. Well. I’m not asking anymore. It’s no longer a question. Now it’s an _order_.” His hand rose from behind his desk, holding a Hyperion pistol. Your eyes immediately locked on to the gun. He walked back around to the front of his desk. “Get on your knees.” He motioned to you and then the floor with the pistol.

You slowly lowered yourself to your stocking covered knees, placing them on the cold metal floor. The sheer nylon material hardly protected from the cold or hardness that your kneecap was now pressed firmly against. You glared up at him and the gun he had, casually being held in his hand, pointed at the ground. “ _He cant even threaten correctly_.” You thought to yourself. He believed just the fact of having it out would make you obey.  
“Let’s go, (y/n). You know what I want.”

You glanced down, noticing the bulge through his black pants. He was already turned on. So many thoughts of disgust and hatred for this man began filling your mind. All of his annoying tendencies while Jack was still here, and how much worse he had gotten after. He had been the one to insincerely tell you about Jack’s death - days after it had happened! He had sexually harassed you for over six months, and now he was holding you * _kind of_ * at gun point to get him off.  
_No. That’s not going to happen_.

You rose your hands up slowly towards his zipper. You glanced over at the gun. He was still barely holding on to it, letting it point to the ground. You looked up at him, he was smirking down at you - waiting.  
You took in a deep breath. Pulling your hand back a bit, you balled it into a fist - instantly bringing it back - slamming it into his crotch. He grabbed at his man hood with both hands, doubling over in pain. Dropping the gun to floor in the process.  
“You little bitch!” He gasped out. Unable to stand properly, as he leaned over on his desk, turning his back to you.

You looked down at the gun which had landed under the small chair next to his feet. Now was your chance. You quickly snatched the gun from the floor and pointed it at his back - letting yourself get back on your feet. He slowly turned back to face you, still slightly doubled over - holding his crotch. His eyes widened at the aimed gun, and both hands rose up.  
What a wonderful sight it was to see, this man you’ve despised for so long - cowering in front of you.

“Now _you_ get on your goddamn knees.” You hissed out.

“N-now (y/n). Don’t do anything you’d regret.” He fell to his knees, looking up at you with widened eyes. His tone nearly sounding as if he believed you were bluffing.

“Oh. Trust me. I won’t regret it.” You could feel a fire rising inside of you, and it felt _good_.

You noticed his hands began shaking a bit as he held them up. “Do you even know how to use a gun?” He attempted to sound cocky, obviously trying to cover up the growing fear in his voice.

You moved your finger around, and unlocked the safety of the gun. Raising your brow at him. “I imagine I know how far better than you do. Jack was the one who taught me, after all.”

You noticed his eyes widen further, as he swallowed the lump in his throat. “You...you don’t want to do this, (y/n). I...I know things! Locked away in the system. That no one else knows!  I know, because I had everyone else that knew killed!”

You lowered eyes at him, unimpressed with his attempt at bargaining for his life. “I’m sure I can find them. You do recall I was given this position for my hacking abilities, right?”

He began shaking his head, still glancing quickly between you and the gun. “No. Th-th-They’re hidden. You won’t find them unless you know what to look for, and you won’t! Believe me, _you of all people_ will want to know. I-i-if you kill me, you’ll never find out...”

You raised your eyebrow. “Why _me_ of all people?”

He shook his head again.  
“Uh uh. I won’t tell you until you put the gun down. Until I know you can’t kill me.”

“Yeah...then you’ll probably just try to kill me instead. Whether or not you even have something hidden... I don’t think I’m going to take that chance. Now turn your head.” You motioned to the side with the pistol.

Hudson paused for a brief moment, just looking up at you. Your brow arched, as you narrowed your eyes at him. He reluctantly and slowly turned his head - keeping as much of his vision on you as he could.  
“(Y/n)! Please! You can’t do this to me!”

“I did tell you that you’d get it through your head one of these days, Hudson.”   
Keeping your eyes trained on him, you squeezed the trigger. You could visibly see the life go out his features. Blood began trickling down his temple as his body fell over, next to his desk. Your entire body seemed to tingle with fire. Like pure energy was pumping through you. “Hmm. Bye-bye.”

You stepped over him, wiping the gun’s handle off and dropping it near his hand.  
You walked behind his desk and turned his computer on. The holographic screen flickered into view - displaying the login screen. You brought up your echoband, and after a simple hack - you successfully logged in as _Vincent Hudson_.  
You navigated to his succession log and settings. Of course he didn’t have anyone set to take over for him. He must have thought he’d never die. Just like Jack had...  
In an obvious tone of sarcasm you spoke out loud to the now lifeless man. “Oh my...you wanted _me_ to take over your position of running Hyperion? You were just so thoughtful, right to the end. You will be missed...by someone...somewhere. Maybe.”

After wiping the time log and any other trace of your hack - you stepped over Hudson again, avoiding the small pool of blood, and brought your echo up. You opened a com. “I need emergency services to Mr. Vincent Hudson’s office immediately.” You glanced back down at him. “...It appears he’s shot himself.”

•

You stood at the door waiting for emergency services to arrive. After only a couple minutes, they came hurrying down the long hallway - followed by an older man, walking slower. His expression looked as if he’d rather be elsewhere.  
The small group of workers rushed into the room past you.

“You’re the one who called it in?” The older man asked as he stopped next to you.

“Yes. I’m...was his assistant.”

He nodded back, moistening his lips under his bushy white mustache. “Alright. I’m with security services. We’ll check it out. I’d like you to stick around until we’re done here.”

You nodded back. “Of course. I’ll wait outside. I’d...I’d rather not see him like this anymore..” you added a hint of convincing sadness to your tone.

The older man nodded back - turning away, and walking into the room. The door slid shut behind him. You decided to sit down on a small bench on the opposite wall. Jacks large picture, grinned down at you. Pulling your eyes away, you stared at the wall in front of you as you waited. You couldn’t help but allow the small smile that yearned to appear on your lips. For the first time in a long awhile, you actually felt care free.

•

After about 20 minutes the door opened again. The group of emergency workers wheeled the covered body out and past you. You watched as they walked down the hallway.

“Miss?”

You turned your head back. The older man was standing in front of the closed door to Hudson’s office. You stood and walked closer to him.

He took a long breath in - rubbing his now wet hands together. You could smell disinfectant coming from them. He cleared his throat.  
“His death will be ruled a suicide. I’m very _sorry_ , you had to see that.” You nodded back, looking down at the floor, before returning your gaze to him. “Also, because of his high position, it’s customary that I look into his will and business succession info. He didn’t have a last will set up, but he did name a successor to his position.”  
You raised your brow, quizzically. Pretending to show interest in who it could be.  
“You said _you_ were his assistant, correct?” You nodded. “He wanted you to take over. Said with your experience, you would know how to run this place better than most. I hope he was right, ‘cause he sure as hell didn’t.”

You widened your eyes in fake surprise.  
“Oh. Well, if that’s what he chose...” It was honestly difficult for you to fake any more sadness about the man’s death, when all you really wanted to do was shoot him again and again until you got all of your pent-up anger was released. You weren’t even sure that would help though  

The older man eyeballed your face a bit.  
“I uh... I know that Hudson wasn’t the easiest man to work for, trust me..I know, and I imagine it was even worse for you...being his secretary or assistant..whatever. He was an awful business man, and not too great of a man in general.” He cleared his throat again, raising his brow at you. “I...*ahem*...I suppose the pressure just got to him. ...Well... I guess he’s lucky it was quick. Probably deserved worse. Congratulations on your new promotion.” You noticed the corner of his mustache covered lip rise.

You allowed a small smile to appear on your lips as well. Perhaps too smug of a smile for such an occasion, but you were pretty sure this old man didn’t plan on saying anything else on the matter. Something in his eyes and the way he talked, told you that he suspected it wasn’t exactly as you’d said, but that he didn’t much care for Hudson either. Granted, you couldn’t think of a single person that did.

  
“Thank you sir. I guess I should get started then.” You smiled and began walking down the long empty hallway. Each click from your stilettos echoing under your stride, only now… you felt powerful.

It was time to be Queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m not sure how long it’ll be between chapters now. I’m having a bit of writers block with how to go about the following storyline. I should figure it out soon, though! 
> 
> Also, wanted to point out that Illuminat0, who commented on the previous chapter, ended up being spot on with their “wishful thinking” were I was going with the story! :) it made me laugh when I read it, so well done! 
> 
> So yeah, thank you all again for the kudos and comments! 💛


	23. Rising Up Again

You tapped on the button for the microphone that would broadcast your voice over the entirety of Helios. 

“Attention all of Helios. It has come to light that our current _stand-in_ president has succumbed to the pressures of the job, and because of such, has _unfortunately_ ended his life. In his last moments, he let it be known that I, (y/n), Handsome Jack and Mr. Hudson’s personal assistant for these past few years, would be his choice for succession. I have accepted this... _bittersweet_ offer  and will be taking charge immediately. You can be assured that I will bring this company back to its former glory. We will be on top again.” 

 

•

 

With your old office now a museum, you decided to take an additional security room that overlooked The Hub of Heroism as your new one. There were more on this level already, and relocating the workers from this one was an easy task. Plus, it already came with the added security you would be needing if you were to be running things. 

 

It wasn’t too big or small. Really nothing fancy, other than the large, nearly floor to ceiling windows on opposite walls. One looked out into the black blanket of stars, allowing you to see the various shuttles and space vehicles coming in to dock - the other looking over the artificially sunlit expanse of The Hub. From this level you could see the trams and floating transit vehicles moving between the buildings. The artificial cloudiness that appeared the higher up you looked through the tall structures, and all of the people bustling around below.

Yellow adorned every wall here and there - with yellow banners hung, showing the pride of Hyperion. It wasn’t a massive view of Elpis, but it was your own and it was different. Having something different and not being a constant reminder of a time gone, was a good thing. 

 

You moved Henderson up to Hudson’s old office. After it was thoroughly cleaned, of course. Allowing him to take the title of Senior Vice President of Securities Propaganda. As Hudson had been, before taking it upon himself to promote himself. 

He seemed pleased with step up. Gaining more confidence as well. Now that he wasn’t under Hudson’s boot, you noticed he ran things rather well. He still kept to himself most of the time and you couldn’t really say you knew much about his personal life.

He did had several people working under him now, and he ran them nicely. 

 

You hired Emily on as your secretary. She was giddy for once about a promotion, accepting your offer immediately. She had her own area outside of your office in an out-cove of the hallway. She had decorated it with potted flowers, and every time you walked by, their fragrance would waft along with you. It was nice.

She handled things well, even though this job was quite a bit more to handle than her previous position at the greeting/ entrance to Helios allowance desk. You didn’t have her do too much other than keeping your schedule, running a few errands here and there, and being the person who would allow or deny access to your office on your say so. 

 

You had an invisible electric field placed in front of your door, that would turn on if anyone tried to get in your office without Emily disabling it. The system was coded to not zap you or her, and for the people leaving your office, it would always disable if the door was opened from inside. You had learned to take precautionary measures. There would always be someone who wanted to take down the highest person and absorb their position. 

 

•

 

You fired most of Hudson’s board, replacing them with your own, more trusted members who had been on while Jack was in charge and some new members. You allocated funds back into buying the better materials - making your products the way they used to be made, even better actually. 

Sales began to rise again as word and propaganda spread about the improvements. 

You had also gotten the rival companies that had pulled out to slowly come back. Earning their approval at how things were being ran now. 

All within the first year of your reign.

Overall, feedback within Helios was positive. You didn’t run things _quite as_ fearsomely  as Jack did, but people had definitely learned not to upset or annoy you. You had developed the slight reputation of...let’s just say, enjoying using your fancy pistol when people annoyed you too much. 

 

•

 

It was late in the ever long day that held meeting after meeting. You were finally sitting in on your last one for the day. Some younger man was trying to speak his points, while some of the older members were interrupting - trying to throw in their two cents. 

 

_We’ve ran things like this for years. That’s how it should stay._

_You can’t just change that. They work already. Why change them?_

_...And yadda yadda, etc._

 

It was annoying, to say the least. You had been implementing new ideas, some had been shown to be quite an improvement. R&D was making great development on several new weapon features and designs. The cybernetic department had also improved the designs for implants. Allowing even better connection with the ECHOnet. 

 

Hearing the some of the older members bicker about it was getting tiresome. It had been a long day. You finally brought your mind back to the meeting - pulling your sleek, shiny Hyperion pistol out of your hip holster and aiming with one hand at the older man that had been interrupting, causing this meeting to stretch on longer. 

You heard the quick inhale of several members, including the one behind the sights of the loaded gun. He quickly quit talking, keeping his wide eyes trained on what he could only imagine would be the gun to kill him in a few seconds. 

 

You cleared your throat. “This guy over here is trying to talk. If I hear one more word come out _your_ mouth. Or anyone’s, for that matter. You will be eating the next bullet that fires from this gun. Got it?” 

 

The man quickly nodded his head, taking in a breath that he had apparently been holding in. 

You let your gaze fall on the now terrified looking younger man who had been trying to talk. You raised your brow, and twirled your hand through the air - motioning for him to continue. He quickly cleared his throat and began his spill again. Voice a bit shakier this time. 

 

•

 

You walked out of the boardroom before anyone else. Making your way back to your office. The young man trotted to catch up to you. “Um miss-?” He asked, briskly walking next to you. 

 

Your turned your gaze to him. He was taller than you, of course, and looked to be in his early twenties. He wore a decent suit, and carried a messenger style bag over his shoulder. He seemed quite nervous and you were honestly a bit surprised he had run to catch up with you. “Hmm?” You added, as you continued walking. 

 

“I- I just wanted to thank you for giving me a position on your board. I, um..I used to work under Hudson and he only sent me to go and get his coffee or lunch. I-i remember seeing you in his office sometimes.” He paused for a moment, awkwardly smiling at you as he glanced between you and watching where he was walking. “Um...anyway, I went to school, and I worked really hard to get where I am in this company. He didn’t seem to care. A-and I’m not trying to imply that _you_ do , j-just that I’m very grateful for a chance to show some of my ideas.” 

 

You honestly didn’t remember his name. He had been put on a list with others, showing his accomplishments and what he could bring to the board. You had been interested in some of his new-age ideas and ended up selecting him as one of the new members. 

 

“Sure. Glad to have on the team. Keep up the good work.”

You let the corner of your lips rise a bit. Not really a genuine smile, but it made him light up nonetheless. 

 

“Yes ma’am! I will!” He called out as you kept walking. 

It wasn’t often that people would stop you just to talk. By now all employees knew your face, and knew of the warnings from others to not bother you unless it was important. It wasn’t like you shot every person who interrupted whatever you were doing, but it had happened...a few times. 

•

 

A few more months ticked by. 

For the most part, it was smooth sailing. Nothing detrimental had happened. Profits were back up to Handsome Jack times, even better some months. You had been practically running Hyperion for Hudson and had learned quite a bit from Jack - so the job wasn’t necessarily difficult, just stressful. Other than just about isolating yourself from everyone you could, life had turned to a slightly more positive note. 

 

Some days were harder than others. You’d hear someone mentioning Jack or you’d accidentally glance at one of the many pictures and posters of his face spread all over Helios as you walked the halls. It wasn’t tears that came - not anymore - but every time you couldn’t forcefully block him from your thoughts, a deep pain would spread through your chest. As if there was a immeasurable hole inside of you and each time he appeared in your thoughts, something big and heavy would fall into it - causing it to get deeper and deeper. Luckily, working kept your mind busy, and the feeling weakened slightly over the nearly two years it had been since you’d learned of his death. You had to stay strong now - you were the head of Hyperion. However, staying strong also meant you had become numb. There wasn’t a part of you that didn’t miss Jack, but missing and thinking of him would do nothing but worsen things - and so, you avoided the thought of him completely. It was challenging. His face was still nearly everywhere, and people loved to talk about him.

You had grown to be a firm woman - that people respected and sometimes feared. It was the only thing you could happily take from losing Jack. 

•

By now, Henderson was planning on promoting someone to  _Assistant Vice President of Securities Propaganda_ . It wasn’t really a needed job, but he had grown impressed by a few people working under him. He figured they’d work harder if he dangled a promotion with a nice name in front of them. It ended up working. 

Several nice deals were brought in by Henderson’s team. Including more erdium mining. Which was always good for business. 

 

You knew of Hugo, but hadn’t really learned the names of anyone else under Henderson- and that was usually because Hugo shoved his way into any and all opportunities to make himself more known. He had grown kind of annoying in the last nearly year and a half, trying to suck up to you and Henderson. Luckily, you only had to deal with him when he’d be following Henderson around near you. 

 

That was until Emily’s burst into your office. Her expression seemed rather shocked. 

 

“I was just notified that an air lock on level 139 was opened. I looked into it. Um...Henderson was just _spaced_ by  Hugo Vasquez!”

 

Your head pulled back with surprise, knitting your brows together. That definitely wasn’t something you expected to hear today. Sure people did “ _happen to die_ ” at the hands of others on Helios fairly often, some without ever being known. Henderson on the other hand, was one of your closer employees. 

“Call him up here now. I want to talk to him.” You spoke firmly. Emily hesitated a bit before turning and going back to her desk. 

 

A couple minutes later, her voice appeared on the built-in intercom of your desk. “Um...Hugo is already here to speak with you. He’s been checked for weapons and any other devices. He’s clean.” 

 

_“Odd”_ you thought to yourself _._  “Send him in then.”

 

 

The man walked confidently into your office. He had on a nice pinstriped black suit. His now thick hair, styled to the side. He came to a stop in front of your desk. 

 

“Bold of you to kill one of my top employees and then come straight to me. Care to explain.” You asked resolutely, leaning back in your large chair. 

 

“Actually, I do. You see. I told him about a deal of a lifetime - but he wanted it for himself. He was going to steal it from me and pretend he had found it. I couldn’t let that happen.” 

 

You had come to learn that most of the plans, ideas, and deals that Henderson passed off as his own, were in fact not his at all. He’d promise his employees a shot at a big pay rise and title if they brought him good info - and then bring it to you, giving no credit to its founder. 

You couldn’t completely blame Hugo for being mad about him trying to steal a ‘ _ deal of a lifetime ’.  _

 

You continued leaning back in your chair, fiddling with a pen between your fingers. “He may not have been the most honest man, but who on Helios is? Still, you killed one of my best employees. I hope you have something good to show for it, or you’ll be going out the same way he did.” 

 

A smile spread across Hugo’s face. “Oh. I do. I have a seller on Pandora. Selling a vault key. All I want, is Henderson’s position.”

 

Your eyes widened. After everything you’d learned from Jack and other means about the vaults, you couldn’t deny your interest in them. Besides that, vaults held things unattainable anywhere else. Secrets, technology, or weaponry that Hyperion could use. Deal of a lifetime was right. “Fine. You bring me that key and you can keep Henderson’s position...and your life.” 

 

He smiled a smug smile. “I’ll go make the arrangements. I have a little meeting to attend to in the meantime. Gotta give a little... _promotion_ , of sorts.” He turned and strolled out the office.

 

You stood and walked over to the large window that looked out over The Hub. It was as busy as ever. “A promotion of sorts...” You thought out loud.

You’d known Hugo to be a _go-getter,_ and youprobablyshould’ve expected him to be someone who would kill for what they wanted. He’d probably done it before, and you could only figure that the promotion he mentioned wouldn’t be so great for whoever was receiving it. That was Hugo’s choice though, you didn’t make every decision for the various _bosses_ under you, and you didn’t want to. If it was important enough, you’d hear about it. 

You continued watching the people below go about their day. The idea of the vault key swimming through your thoughts. 

You hadn’t stepped foot on Pandora since you’d been kidnapped, and now with all of the memories you’d made there - it was one of the last things you'd ever want to do again. However, the idea of entering a vault was rather tempting.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for the slower update, the next chapter may also be about a week away...I’m just trying to figure out how I want to write it out. I already have a basic idea and way I want to go, hopefully it’s a good way ^_^ 
> 
> Also, this chapter was a bit boring...woo filler chapters... 
> 
> Anyway, thank you all again for reading, commenting and giving kudos! 
> 
> 💛


	24. Deal Of A Lifetime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is pretty long, but I wanted it to all be in one. It’s mostly from a 3rd Person POV, so it’s a bit different from most of the story...but it kind of had to be. I also don’t like it much...but I kept changing it and finally just decided to leave it as this. Sorry if it’s bad! >_<

** 3rd Person POV **

 

“ _Senior Vice Janitor Rhys to sector D451 for trash clean up because that is your job now, to clean up trash with your bare hands_. ” The robotic woman’s voice taunted over the loudspeakers of Helios. 

 

Rhys stood between Vaughn and Yvette, glaring off into space. 

The three continued talking as they walked down the metal corridors. Yvette’s main concern being who was going to buy her lunch and how bad it would be for them to try and shove Vasquez out of an airlock. 

 

No matter how badly he wanted to, Rhys knew she was right. Henderson had basically told Rhys he’d be getting that promotion. After everything he’d given over to Henderson to show he was in it to win it. Now this happens. 

“ _Damn Vasquez. How did he even find a vault key deal? Wait! The vault key_... ” Rhys had been cursing Vazquez in his mind, hardly listening to Vaughn and Yvette talking behind him. 

“We steal his deal.” Rhys spoke up. 

 

Vaughn immediately seemed excited for the idea, Yvette on the other hand didn’t see it going well. It was on Pandora after all, and they’d be stealing from the very corporation they worked for. The one that would surly kill them once they found out, and it was rare for them not to find things out. 

 

“Hold please. Done.” Vaughn interjected as the other two began arguing over how they’d even get the money for the deal. 

It paid to have friends working in useful areas of Hyperion. 

 

After some convincing, Yvette agreed to help as best as she could. 

 

•

 

Rhys and Vaughn stood in the loading bay of the moonshot, waiting for Vasquez’s car to be digistructed. 

 

To say Vaughn seemed nervous was an understatement. He was pacing, shifting from side to side, checking the time nearly every 4 seconds, he had even handcuffed the case to his wrist - ya know, just in case. 

“I can’t believe we’re really doing this! Gah! We’re is the damn car!?” 

 

“Vaughn, relax. We have enough time. We’ll get down there. Find this place, get the key, and Yvette will get us back up here. Easy.”

 

“Psh. Yeah...right. Easy. You do remember this is Pandora we’re going to be hurdling towards in a few minutes, right? I’ve never even been to Pandora!” Vaughn’s voice had become a bit more shrill the more anxious he got. 

 

Just then the base for the next load of the moonshot turned. The tall machine next to it flittered to life and began digistructing a slick black and gold car. 

 

“There. See? Hop in.” Rhys’s tone was much calmer, even if he was a little nervous about this whole deal as well. He had grown used to being the one to calm Vaughn down whenever he’d get anxious. He was good at playing the “ cool”  guy, even if he was just a nerdy and squishy as his best friend. 

 

The two slid in to the leather seats. This car was more manual than the usual vehicles Rhys was used to. He supposed it had to be, to be something that would be able to transverse Pandora. 

The car began turning and was then lifted above a launching shell. Once in place, the hard metal shell latched around the car, leaving the two men in darkness - only illuminated by the glowing controls of the car’s dash. 

 

Rhys took in a deep breath. He’d never been shot out of a moonshot before, but he imagined it wouldn’t be the most pleasant thing to do. He could see Vaughn’s arms tightly wrapped around the case as he stared wide-eyed out of the now covered windshield. 

 

The base they were lowered on began moving again. The sound of the machinery could be heard just under the low beeping that indicated workers to not obstruct the active loading area. 

The car jostled a bit and a robotic voice began counting down from 5. 

 

“ _Launching pod in 5....4....3.._.-“

 

Both men tightened a bit, getting ready for the launch. 

“Rhys, if we die I just wanted to tell you that you’re my best friend and it was great knowing you!”

 

“We’ll be fine Vaugh-“

 

“. _..1...LAUNCHING_.”

 

The kickback from the burst threw the two men into the backs of their seats. Holding them there until they hit Pandora’s atmosphere. Slowly they relaxed a bit, looking over at each other chuckling a bit. 

 

“That wasn’t so b-“

 

*SLAM*

 

The protective outer shell luckily took the brunt of the landing and began shedding itself. 

Sunlight instantly poured into the car as Rhys switched it into gear and began speeding though the desert. 

 

Vaughn put his window down, letting the heat and strange new smells of Pandora drift through. 

 

“You sure you know where we’re going?” Vaughn asked, looking over at the gps. “Think it shot us to the right area?” 

 

Rhys watched his internal gps through his ECHOeye - nodding back. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure. Shouldn’t be too far.”

 

Sure enough, they soon drove past a large sign displaying “ _Prosperity Junction_ !” 

Both men’s expressions took on a look of uneasiness as they simultaneously saw the corpse of what looked to be a bandit, hanging from it. They glanced at each other in silence, before deciding to just move on and act like that wasn’t one of the strangest/ most disturbing thing they’d ever seen. 

 

Vaughn was still nervous and asking questions about everything. Rhys kept his cool. 

“....and uh...just watch the money.”

 

“Oh really?” Vaughn added in a sarcastic tone. 

 

•

 

Vaughn’s anxiousness about Pandora ended up being correct. 

After a nearly deadly bandit fight, finding a dead Hyperion employee ID drive, an insane curator, and a deal gone _horribly_ wrong - the case, still full of money, was stolen and the vault key was revealed to be a fake. 

Now in-tow of the con-artists, Fiona and Sasha, who had helped orchestrate this entire fake deal, Rhys and Vaughn agreed to help find the money as long as it kept them from being left in the Pandoran desert. 

 

•

 

**Reader POV**

 

“(Y/n), Hugo is here. He says he needs to talk with you.” Emily spoke over the intercom. 

 

“Alright, send him in.” 

You looked up from the various papers and echo devices littering your desk to see Hugo bound in through the door. You raised your brow at his obvious disgruntled demeanor. 

He stopped in front of your desk, seemingly trying to think of what to say. 

“Is there a problem?”

 

He met your gaze before glancing back down and clearing his throat. “Uh...yes. A guy that works under me found out about the deal. Him and a friend of his from accounting stole the money for the vault key and shot themselves down to Pandora...”

 

Your eyes widened at his rather surprising admission. “And how much money was withdrawn?”

 

“Ten million.”

 

Again, your brows raised with a bit of surprise. “Hmm. Well-“

 

“...that’s not all, ma’am. The uh...the money was stolen by bandits...and the key was also, apparently a fake...” Vazquez continued keeping his eyes from meeting your gaze. 

 

You narrowed your eyes at the obviously very uncomfortable man. “And where is this..guy now? Who is he?” 

 

Finally his gaze came up to meet yours. He looked like a puppy who’d just gotten in trouble for chewing up something. “His name is Rhys, ma’am, and I don’t know exactly. I may have a way to find him though.”

 

You leaned back in your chair, taking a deep breath. “Well. Let’s hope for your sake you do.”

 

Hugo nodded once, quickly turning and leaving your office. 

 

You let your head fall back against the chair as you looked out of the window over The Hub.10 million wasn’t the end of the world, actually, it hardly dented the profits Hyperion drew in. It was more annoying that some low level person thought they could get away with it. Either way, whether Vasquez found him or not...someone would probably be paying for it. 

 

•

 

**3rd Person POV**

 

Yvette jumped as the doors to the requisitions department flung open. A very angry Vasquez stormed in and glanced around before landing his gaze on her. He stalked over and slammed his hands down on her desk. “Where is Rhys?”

 

Yvette swallowed the lump in her throat. She knew they wouldn’t be able to pull this off. “He’s on Pand-“

 

“I know that, damnit! _WHERE_ on Pandora?” He barked out. A few people in the cubicles quickly stood and scurried out the room. 

 

Taking in a deep breath, Yvette looked down at her computer. She’d last heard from Rhys when he’d called in the bot. “I’m not sure...”

 

Vazquez’s brows knitted together, his lips drawing into a straight line. “I _know_ the  three of you are friends. I _know_ you  helped them, I _know_ you  sent them an unauthorized combat bot, and I can _assure_ you that you will be in just as deep of shit as they are if you don’t cooperate with me. _Now_.” He paused for a moment. “Rhys and Vaughn are as good as dead. Whether down there or up here.”

 

“Why would I turn over my best friends?”

 

“Because, I can make it worth your while _and_ you  won’t be killed right here and now. They’re hardly your friends anyway. From what I’ve seen you just leech off of them. So. What’s it going to be?”

 

Yvette sat quiet for a moment. Eventually she nodded. “Okay, I’ll try to find them. I’ll let you know when I do.”

 

“Good. I’ll keep in touch on what I find out.”

 

Hugo relayed some of what he knew already and stormed back out of the department,  leaving Yvette in a nearly empty room now. “He’s right...” she began convincing herself. “...Rhys and Vaughn won’t survive down there.” 

 

•

 

After a while, a call popped up from Rhys. “ _Thank god_ .” She thought. She hadn’t been able to accurately locate him. The signal had been all over the place. 

“Rhys, what the hell is going on? Vasquez knows you stole his car and the money. He got a call from some August guy. He’s pissed. Beyond pissed.”

 

“We need your help again. The deal....didn’t go well.” Rhys sounded less than enthused and a bit shaken. Not surprising, based on where he was at the moment. 

 

“What?! Look, I’m being monitored. I can’t help you right now. This is bad, Rhys. I told you this wasn’t a good idea. You’ve been blacklisted up here-” *Beep* She pinged his location right Rhys ended the call. Instead of immediately calling Vasquez, Yvette sat for a moment. She considered not telling Hugo at all. Pretending she couldn’t find Rhys and Vaughn, but she knew that would only last so long before she was spaced as well. 

Just then the tracker went dark. “What the-“

A message appeared on the screen where Rhys’s cybernetic link had been. 

 

_**DATA DOWNLOADED** _

_**Property of Professor Nakayama.** _

_**TOP SECRET. CONFIDENTIAL.** _

 

Yvette’s brows pulled together in confusion. This definitely wasn’t her department. She quickly pulled up a com to the tech department. “I have something I need immediate and discreet help with.”

 

•

 

Vasquez sat in his chair, facing the window of his new office - watching Henderson slowly float further out through space. 

 

A call interrupted, with a nervous looking Yvette on the other side. 

 

“What is it? Did you find him?” Hugo asked, pulling his chair closer to the desk. 

 

“Not exactly...”

 

“Then why the hell are you cal-“

 

“We found something else.” She paused for a moment, waiting to see if she’d be interrupted. “It seems Rhys tried to download someone else’s credentials to access the network. Instead, it appeared that he unknowingly downloaded something...more.”

 

Hugo’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean more? Why does this matter? You’re supposed to be finding Rhys.”

 

“Rhys’s tracker went dark. He must’ve passed out from the neural download. And this matters  because it wasn’t just some random data. It belonged to Professor Nakayama. It’s labeled top secret, confidential...and no one has been able to open it to see what it is.”

 

Just about everyone knew that Nakayama dealt with a lot of secret projects. Projects that could prove very valuable in the right or wrong hands. 

 

“Keep trying. I’ll be down soon.” Hugo ended the call and opened another. 

 

“...Guess who’s going down to Pandora then?” (Y/n)’s unamused voice spoke through Hugo’s echo after he explained the new situation. 

That’s what he had been dreading. Being sent to Pandora to retrieve Rhys. He had to tell her though. Top secret info wasn’t something to just send some lackey to retrieve. Especially, if they couldn’t even live long enough to get it. 

 

“Yes ma’am. I’ll bring him and whatever is in his head back.” 

 

There was a small moment of disappointment ladened silence. 

“Oh and Hugo, don’t come back up here unless you do.” 

 

•

 

Vasquez burst through the doors again, causing nearly everyone who had returned to their work stations to jump. 

“I want that location NOW.”

 

“Yes sir. I have it, but...he’s in some sort of bandit death race...rally thing. Inside of an old Atlas building. There’s no way anyone could get to him right now.”

 

“Move.” Vasquez shoved Yvette’s chair over, giving him access to her terminal. He tapped on Rhys name, opening a call. 

 

“Oh Professor, you sound different..” Vazquez prodded as the call was answered.  

After trying to convince Rhys to blame everything on Vaughn and failing in the process, the call was hung up. 

Vasquez was practically fuming now. “Get me a car ready and alert me when they’re out of that bandit hold. I’m going to go fire up the moonshot cannon.” 

 

•

 

 

Things definitely were not going as planned. The vault key was fake, the money was gone - destroyed during the bandit death race, Vazquez definitely was coming for them, and now they were blacklisted and stranded on Pandora with the two female con-artists who really didn’t much care for them. 

 

Things seemed to turn on the bright side after literally falling into an old Atlas bunker and finding a few neat things. A gun, a cool watch, and two strange metal pieces that locked together, forming a holographic map of sorts. 

 

The four stared up at the glowing sphere that appeared above them. A lone vault symbol drawing their eyes. 

 

“Is that...a map?” Fiona asked 

 

“ _Oh. So she’s the brains of the outfit_? ” A strange voice spoke, seemingly from no where. 

Rhys began looking around, trying to find the voice that was now mocking them. The others didn’t seem to notice - as they were all still staring up at the spherical map. 

“... _This, ladies and gentlemen is the Gortys Project...and it’s going to lead us..to a vault. Annnnnd, then I’ll probably kill you_ _._ ”

 

Rhys turned his head, finally being able to pinpoint the direction of the voice. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he saw the blue holographic figure of his old, dead boss standing next to him - looking up at the same map as everyone else. That was until they were all equally startled by Rhys’s sudden shrill noise and startled expression. 

 

The other three watched as Rhys scampered up the stairs, looking around at seemingly nothing. 

 

“He probably just needs some air...” Vaughn tried convincing the girls, and himself. 

 

“Right... lets just find a way out of here..” Fiona spoke up, beginning to look around for a possible way back out. 

 

•

 

Rhys stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed as the hologram of his hero, Handsome Jack stood in front of him trying to remember things. Telling someone that they had died wasn’t something he thought he’d ever have to do, but alas, he just had. 

Jack, of course, didn’t take that news very well. Demanding that he didn’t die. He didn’t remember dying, he remembered the vault, the warrior, and being shot...but he didn’t remember  dying . 

Rhys’s question of ‘Would you even be  able to remember dying?’ was met with a glare and even more sass - claiming that  yes, he would remember . 

 

However, the dead man in Rhys’s head was the least thing the group had to worry about. At least for now. 

After being blasted by moonshots, chased by a giant Pandoran beast, and being thrown out of the speeding caravan - Rhys and Vaughn were stranded in the hot sun. Alone. Well, mostly alone. 

 

•

 

“Sir. Rhys’s tracker is no longer moving at an accelerated speed. It appears that he’s on foot now. In the desert.” Yvette spoke up, after ending another short com with Rhys. 

 

Vasquez smiled at the good news. Leaving the room and heading for the launching bay. 

That was all the information he needed. All he had to do now, was launch down to the general area that Rhys was standing in - kill him and bring his body back. Then he could keep his promotion and his life. 

 

Unfortunately for him, that isn’t how it went down. Rhys and Vaughn got away on their rogue loaderbot and flew off, leaving Hugo in the desert with and empty trunk and a bad feeling in his gut. 

He knew he wasn’t allowed to step foot back on Helios until he had Rhys in tow.

•

 

The two men met the girls in Hollowpoint. From there, they headed to Old Haven. After being ambushed by Vasquez and his goons inside of the abandoned Atlas facility, Rhys allowed Jack to take control of the situation, earning the pleased murderous approval of the once  king . Causing some drones to turn on their attackers and thankfully get them mostly out of the bad situation. 

Unfortunately, it seemed at every turn a new problem would occur. August’s mother, a tough, brute of a woman named Valerie had intercepted their plans of escape. 

One word too many proved fatal for Vasquez, as he lied dead on the ground as the group left with a new companion, Athena, who had scared Valerie off. 

The Gortys Project turned out to be different than they’d expected. A small robot, who would need a couple upgrades, would eventually lead them to a vault. The Vault of The Traveler. Before that though, they’d have to find the upgrades. 

 

The trip to the first upgrade location would take awhile. The group grew closer, and seemed to actually be enjoying their new adventure. 

Jack was having fun messing with Rhys, and Rhys couldn’t deny that he was actually beginning to like having him around to talk to. Rhys had agreed to keep him a secret. They both knew that no one in the group would much care for the idea of any part of Handsome Jack existing, let alone being in on their plans. 

 

•

 

Rhys went up to the roof of the caravan. Athena, had been giving him some strange looks as he quietly tried responding to Jack. It was easier to just avoid that by going away from everyone. Which is what he usually ended up doing when he wanted to talk to his secret companion.

The robots sat at the front of the caravan’s roof, watching as the landscape blurred by. Rhys figured they wouldn’t be too alarmed at him seemingly talking to himself. 

 

Jack and Rhys chatted about the plans to find Gortys’s upgrade amongst other random things. Eventually a lull in the conversation caused Rhys to watch the blue man. He seemed off in thought as he watched the landscape go by. 

He had always dreamed of getting close enough to the man to have a normal conversation, or as normal as talking to Handsome Jack could be. He’d never made it that far up. Only ever seeing him in passing. The various posters and Jack memorabilia would be the closest he’d ever get, or so he had thought. Here he was, one on one with him. Maybe not in the flesh, but it was him nonetheless.

The stories and little bits of advice Jack had already told him on the trip so far were what Rhys had always imagined. Some were a little more unorthodox than Rhys could ever see himself doing, but they were interesting to hear about either way. 

 

Jack cleared his throat, obviously not really needing to, but seemingly necessary to start the conversation up again. It drew Rhys out of his thoughts, moving his gaze back to Jacks eyes to show that he was listening. 

 

“ _So...I’m uh..sorry I shot at your friends back at Atlas. I mean, in my defense...they all kind of look like bandits_..”

 

Rhys let a small snort pass. He couldn’t really disagree, they did all look rather rough. “It’s alright. Um, thank you for the apology..?”

 

“ _Yeah, yeah, don’t get used it. I’m not wrong very often_.” Jack rolled his eyes, letting a small smirk appear on his lips. 

 

Rhys smiled back. He knew that Handsome Jack didn’t just apologize to any and everyone. He also knew it wasn’t the best idea to _just trust_  the murderous tyrant, but he couldn’t help it. He’d looked up to Jack for years, and being just like him was all he’d ever wanted. 

 

“ _Anyway, when we get back to Helios...I’m gonna help you out. Get you up to the top. How’s that sound_?”

 

Rhys couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah! That sounds...awesome...but what about you?”

 

“ _I’ll be right there with ya, Rhysie! You and me. Running Hyperion. Screw whatever idiot is running it now. Probably just throw ‘em out of an airlock. I mean...if you’re cool with that. You’d be the one doing it, since I - ya know - kinda can’t_.” He motioned to his nearly see-through body. 

 

Rhys’s brows furrowed a bit. “Um...I’d rather not kill her...I mean, I doubt she’ll just hand over Helios to me though-“

 

“ _Wait wait wait. What do you mean..._ _she_ ? _Who took over after I...ya know_.” Jack had leaned forward a bit from his floating/sitting position. His brows pulled together. 

 

“Oh...right. You wouldn’t know about all that. Well Hudson is actually the one that took over after you di- ...after you left.” He noticed Jack’s slight grimace. “But he only had the position for like half a year, before he shot himself.” 

 

Jack’s eyes widened a bit, raising a brow. He let out a small chuckle. “ _Yeah, I didn’t think he’d ever make it very long with any real power. Guy was an asshole, and not in a good way_.” 

 

Rhys nodded in agreement. Even though he was slightly unsure what he’d meant by ‘ _not in a good way.’_ “Yeah, he was awful. Profits and sales went down pretty far, we lost the other companies support, wages were cut-“

 

“ _Whoa, whoa. Okay stop. Are you telling me that that idiot ruined everything I built up?_ ” Jacks eyes had widened even more - his tone growing a bit in anger. 

 

“No! Well, yes.. he was getting there...until he died and (Y/n) took over. Although, it’s rumored she may have had a _big hand_ in his death...” Rhys trailed off looking down, recalling the stories he’d heard of the event. 

 

Jack’s head cocked to the side, his eyes narrowed. “ _Wait. (Y/n)? I know that name..._ ”

 

Rhys looked back up. Jack’s stare was aimed at the roof of the caravan below him. His mind was elsewhere, completely off in thought. Like he was going through the files of his mind pulling out every memory that had the name (y/n) in it. 

Rhys watched closely. After several seconds, Jack’s eyes widened and Rhys could see the slightest smile appear on his lips. It was a soft smile. One that even seemed to show in his eyes.

 

“ _I do know_ _that name. Gah, I hate this AI memory crap. Not being able to remember anything until it’s triggered. I can’t believe I forgot about her_.” He chuckled to himself a couple times, obviously still remembering things. 

 

Rhys waited a moment, watching Jack smile to himself. “Yeahhhh.... She was your assistant too, right? I-I mean, before she was Hudson’s. ”

 

Finally Jack’s eyes came back to Rhys. His lips still curved into a smug smirk. “ _Oh, Rhysie. She was more than that_.” 

 

“So the rumors were true, then?” The words fell out as the thought appeared. Rhys clamped his mouth shut. ‘ _Of course the rumors were true, you idiot! This is Handsome Jack. What PA wouldn’t want to sleep with him_ _?_ ’

 

Jack’s brows pulled together. “ _Um. What rumors_?”

 

Rhys nibbled his bottom lip. Delving into the personal life of Handsome Jack wasn’t something he’d heard had ever gone well, for anyone. He hesitated a moment, earning Jack’s brow raising - waiting for his response. 

“Um...the ones that you two were... _involved_ ...at some point?”

 

He worded it the best way he could think of doing without bluntly saying.  _Ya know, that you were screwing your sexy, young assistant and everyone knew_ ? 

 

Jack snorted a bit, letting his expression relax and gaining a smirk again. “ Involved , _huh? Yeah, let’s go with that and just leave it there_.” 

 

Rhys exhaled slowly, glad that his accidental intrusion hadn’t caused Jack to become angry and disappear back into his head. 

“ _So. You’re telling me, that my old assistant killed Hudson, claimed it was a suicide, took his position, and is now running Hyperion?_ ” 

 

Rhys nodded back shrugging a little. “And she’s done a really good job, actually. All the numbers are back up and above what they were while you were still...there. She got the other companies back too. She’s completely made up for Hudson’s failure.”

 

“ _Huh. Well what do ya know....I’m a little surprised. She always hated Hudson, but I didn’t really see her killing him_.” Jack continued chuckling to himself. 

 

“Really?” Rhys’s brow cocked. “I mean, I’ve never met her personally, but she has quite the reputation of offing someone if they annoy or inconvenience her too much...” He noticed Jack’s brow raise, his expression looking a bit surprised, but definitely intrigued. He decided to continue on. “Yeah... everyone calls her the female version of you. N-Not to her face though. I heard she shot a guy on sight because he kept talking about you to her...”

 

“ _The female version of me? Now that’s something I’d like to see_.” Jack laughed out loud. “ _I want to see her when we get up there, m’kay, champ_?”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, she probably wants me dea-“

” _Yeah, cupcake. I’m sure. It’s...important_.” 

Rhys nodded, smiling along with Jack’s enjoyment. “ _ Why would he be so intent on seeing his old assistant ?  _ _Probably just curiosity_. ” He thought to himself as the two sat in silence, feeling the breeze. Well, he was feeling it at least. 

 

•

 

The next step in their adventure had brought them to another old Atlas facility. This one seemed to specialize in growing large flora. The towering and glowing plants were mesmerizing, if not quite odd to see on Pandora. 

 

Eventually, the first upgrade was found...but the joy of that was short lived. Valerie and her goons had caught up, and they weren’t just here for the upgrade. Athena was knocked unconscious and taken away by some other vault hunters as Valerie demanded the 2nd upgrades location. 

 

“It’s up there...” Gortys spoke, pointing into the sky. 

 

Everyone’s eyes followed the tiny robots direction. _Helios_. 

 

•

 

“How are we supposed to get up to Helios? And then inside of it? I’m pretty sure they don’t just let whoever wants to walk in...well, walk in.” Fiona snarled as she spoke of the corporation. 

 

Sasha was shaking her head, looking down at the table. “I don’t know... Rhys? Any ideas? You’re from there.” 

 

Rhys had been fidgeting in the corner, seemingly talking to himself again. 

The sound of his name pulled him out of his thoughts, and his secret conversation with Jack. A smirk spread across his lips. 

 

“We need a spaceship. I know of a way to get us into Helios, that part will be easy. Then we grab the upgrade from Jack’s office and we’re good to-“

 

“Wait, wait, wait. How do you know Gortys’s upgrade is in Jack’s office?” The sisters’ scrutinizing glares mirrored each other as they both started at Rhys. 

 

Rhys swallowed the lump in his throat as Jack appeared beside him. 

 

“ _Don’t tell ‘em, princess. You know they won’t like it. Actually, they’ll be pretty friggin pissed. So, uh...yeah. Better to not tell ‘em_ .” 

 

“Hello? Rhys?” Sasha snapped in Rhys’s face causing Jack to disappear again. 

 

“Um... because... I searched through my memory files? Look that’s not important. We should go over a plan. August can relay it to his mom...er...Valerie...and-“

 

“Yeah, yeah. She’ll be fine with it.” August grumbled as he walked out of the caravan. 

 

•

 

Rhys ended up not being so right about his part of the plan being easy. Finding and peeling Vasquez’s face... _just his face_...off of a sleeping psycho and then being chased by psychos was not how he’d envisioned it going. Add on that the rest of Vasquez’s body accidentally got blown up into lots of littler chunks of Vasquez, and you have an entire plan gone awry, but luckily not completely bad. 

 

Once the caravan was upgraded to rocket territory, disguises were bought and put on, and everyone piled into the now space worthy bucket of bolts - it was finally time to set off. All the way up to Helios. 

 

Rhys was glad to finally be leaving Pandora behind and with Vasquez gone, maybe he wouldn’t just be immediately killed once he was back on Helios, as himself.

 

The plan was to get into Jack’s old office through the VIP tour of the “museum” that had been set up. Rhys would stroll in disguised as Vasquez, shut down security and meet the girls in Jack’s office. Easy. 

 

 

No. It wasn’t that easy. 

Yet again, if something could go wrong. It did. Upon finally arriving to Helios, Yvette was revealed to have been working with Vasquez. 

After slipping past her and making it into Vasquez’s office, all Rhys had to do was get through the firewall. Which was nearly impossible. That was until Jack helped out, not without boasting about how well he’d designed it first though.

 

“Annnnnnd. You’re good to go, Fiona!”

 

A simple thumbs up in the camera showed that everything on their end was going to plan. 

That was until several minutes later, when Rhys got another update. 

 

“Rhys. I can’t get into Jack’s office. It’s locked down. Can you open it?”

 

“Um...no... had a little problem up here too... I’ll see what I can do. Just give me a few minutes.”

Rhys stared down at the unconscious body of Yvette on the floor. His stun baton in hand. What else could he do? She’d come in, angry and ready to call security. He felt bad...but after learning of her betrayal, not as bad as he thought he would. 

 

“Jack. A little help here. How do we get into your office?” Rhys’s eyes rolled at the annoyance of more things skidding off from the original plan. 

 

The holographic man, still lazily perched on top of Vasquez’s desk shrugged his shoulders. 

“ _Hm. I don’t know, I didn’t have it locked down like it is now. (Y/n) handled who came in and out_ -“ Jack’s eyes then lit up, even more than they already were with basically being a lightsource of code anyway. He sprang up to stand right in front of Rhys. “ _That’s it! We go to her office. You tell her that you have me inside your head. She won’t kill you, maybe...and you tell her that you need inside of my old office for this upgrade thing_ _!_ ” 

 

Jack seemed quite pleased with his quickly thought up plan. Rhys couldn’t really disagree. It did sound like it could work. If the part about (y/n) not killing him would go to plan. 

 

Still disguised as Vasquez, Rhys made his way to the woman’s office he’d never even stood outside of. He’d wanted to meet the new head of Hyperion. He’d seen her picture, heard the stories about how she’d gotten to the position she’s in, and heard the rumors of how much like Jack she’d become. That last part was what worried him. 

 

•

 

Rhys walked up to the desk of Emily. She was busy looking down and typing things in on her computer. She held up a finger without glancing over to see who was about to interrupt her. 

 

“Ahem..” Rhys cleared his throat in the most obnoxious Vasquez-y way possible. 

 

Emily glanced up at the noise and quickly twirled her chair around to face him. 

“Oh. It’s you Hugo. Sorry, it’s been busy today. I’ll let her know you’re back. I hope you brought good news. She’s not in the best mood.” 

 

Rhys nodded his head and tried to continue the facade of being better than the secretary in front of him. 

 

“(Y/n), Hugo is back and would like to see you.” Emily spoke into the open com. 

 

Rhys’s heart began to pound a bit harder. He was really going to do this. Walk into this office and show that he wasn’t really Vasquez. The only thing keeping him alive right now. 

 

“About time. Send him in.” The melodic voice rose from the glowing screen’s speaker. 

 

Emily nodded him over to the door. “Go ahead.” 

 

Rhys took a deep breath in and straightened his tie. The growing feeling of nausea becoming more present as he stepped closer to the door. He glanced over and brought his finger to the button next to the door. Another deep breath to help quell the sick feeling in his stomach. He pushed down on the button, immediately releasing the locks of the door and allowing it to slide open. 

The light gust of air as the door opened allowed a sweet and flowery smell to blow past him from the room laid before him. He stood in the doorway, almost unable to move as he looked at the woman sitting behind the desk. Even Jack was silent next to him, as he stared in the same direction.

She was looking down at her desk, her head propped up on her index finger. Her hair fell around her shoulders with a large curl at the ends. She wore a fitted yellow button down, with the sleeves rolled up. 

It was at that moment that she spoke, without looking away from her work. 

 

“Are you going to come in, or just stand there all day? Because the door is going to zap you eventually.” 

 

Rhys jumped a bit at the sudden sound of her voice...and at the thought of being zapped. He took another deep breath in and walked to the chair in front of the desk. He wasn’t sure what to say and decided to stay quiet for now - slowly easing himself down into the chair. 

 

“You’re going to have to give me a minute to call someone about this.” She spoke again, motioning with the paper in her hand, before turning her chair around and standing up to walk over to one of the windows. 

 

We watched as she continued reading the paper in her hand, and opening up a call. He couldn’t see much of her face, but could hear the seriousness of her tone. 

 

“ _Oh (y/n)_ ...” Rhys heard Jack speak from beside him. “ _Look at you, sweetheart. All the way at the top now_ .” 

 

Rhys glanced up to see Jack strolling around the side of her desk and stopping next to her. He had a smile on his lips, and not the usual smile of amusement at someone else’s misfortune he’d seen since having him in his head. This seemed...affectionate. His eyes were soft and glued on to the woman who had no idea he was standing beside her.

Rhys watched him for a moment, a bit taken back by the sudden softness the man was now showing. 

Jack’s eyes peered over every part of her, his small smile never leaving his lips. His fingers ghosted over the woman’s cheek, causing his smile to lessen a bit with the disappointment of not being able to feel her. 

Rhys’s eyes wandered over the frame of the woman now standing with her back to him. She was talking to someone in her ear, he couldn’t really tell what it was about. However, that wasn’t what really had his attention anyway. She was small, but had a wonderful hourglass figure. Her entire outfit seemed to be specifically tailored to wrap around her curves perfectly. He was a bit lost in admiring that he didn’t even notice Jack appear next to him. 

 

“ _Ah ah ah. Rhysie. Don’t even think about it. I’ll kill ya, kiddo. She’s mine_. ”

 

“Wha-? I..I..wasn’t-“

 

“ _Yeah yeah yeah, I can read your thoughts princess. And yes, she does have rockin hips. Look at ‘em again and I’ll shock the fuck out of your cybernetics_ .” 

 

Rhys quickly looked away. “Wait.. yours?-“

 

His sentence was interrupted as (y/n) ended the call and sat back down in her chair. 

 

“I take it that you got whatever was in Rhys’s head? Since you’re sitting in my office.”

 

Rhys quickly looked back to the woman. Big sparkling eyes stared back him now. He could see her whole face now. She was far prettier in person than he’d expected. He blinked several times as he tried not to let his eyes wonder all over the features of her face. 

Her eyebrow rose. “Well?

 

“Um. Well, t-that’s actually what I w-wanted to talk t-to you about...” Rhys managed to stutter out, still taken aback. 

 

“Well I would hope so. I told you not to come back at all if you didn’t.” 

 

Rhys heard Jack chuckle behind him. He swallowed the lump growing in his throat. “Right... um.. this may come as a bit of a shock, but..” Rhys rose his hand up to his neck and pressed the button there. Instantly, his disguise pixeld away leaving only his true identity. 

 

(Y/n)’s eyes widened as she looked over the new person sitting in her office. “What the-“

 

“My real name is Rhys...” he spoke shakily, hoping the still rising feeling of nausea wouldn’t make an explosive appearance right now. 

 

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Rhys. So you’re the one who screwed up this entire deal. The one who _stole_ and  then  _lost_ 10million dollars. You’re either very brave or incredibly stupid to come back to Helios...and to me.” 

 

Jack appeared again, sitting on the corner of the desk. His smile had now changed to the amused one as he glanced between Rhys and (y/n). “ _Yeah, Rhysie...you should probably tell her about me now.. She looks pretty pissed_ .” 

 

“What are you looking at?” (Y/n) spoke up, pulling Rhys’s eyes away from Jack. 

 

Rhys glanced between her and Jack a couple more times while his brain registered what to say next. “Um...I...I have something in my head that you will want to know about...-“

 

Her eyes rolled. “Yes. I know. I sent Vasquez to bring you back so that it could be retrieved. Where is Hugo?” She glanced over to where Jack was sitting. “..and what do you keep looking at?” 

 

“He um...he was killed...in an attack...his body is here, on Helios...just in a few more pieces than-“

 

“Nevermind. I don’t care about the rest. What’s in your head?” 

 

Rhys swallowed again. “...An AI.”

 

“An AI... of who, Nakayama?” Her eyes were narrowed still. 

 

Rhys rubbed the back of neck, unsure of how she’d take his next words. “Um no... it’s J- Handsome Jack...”

 

Instantly her expression changed. Her brows unknitted, eyes widened and her lips seemed to part ever so slightly. 

Rhys stared back...nibbling on his bottom lip a bit. 

 

Her eyes narrowed again. “Is this some kind of joke? You think telling me that Jack is in your head is going to keep you alive?”

 

“What? No. I’m serious. He really is!” Rhys glanced over to Jack. “He’s right there. O-only I can see him. Through my ECHOeye.” Rhys pointed to the corner of the desk. 

 

(Y/n)’s eyes glanced to the spot again, hovering there for a moment and then back to Rhys. “He’s right there? Now?” Her voice had changed. It seemed less firm, less assured, almost shaky. 

 

Rhys nodded his head. 

 

“And you can talk to him?” She added on. Her eyes boring into Rhys. “An AI version of Jack? Exactly like him?” 

 

He nodded again. 

 

“Prove it then.” She spoke again. Her voice returning to its previous strength. 

 

Rhys looked over at Jack who, unhelpingly, shrugged his shoulders. “ _Um.. I don’t know, kid. Tell her my special nickname for her. It’s -_ ehm _\- (Nickname)_ .” 

 

Rhys looked back to the woman. Her brow was raised, waiting for Rhys to prove the insane notion. He cleared his throat. “He..um.. he had a special nickname for you.. (n/n)?” 

 

For a second, her eyes widened before narrowing again. “Anyone could’ve found that out. Try again.”

 

Rhys let out a quick sigh. Looking at Jack again and motioning for him to think of something better. 

Jack hopped off of the desk and began circling it again. He seemed to be in thought. 

 

“A little quicker please...” Rhys grumbled as he watched the blue man think. 

(Y/n) narrowed her eyes at the man speaking to seemingly no one, watching his eyes as they moved - following whatever he was looking at. 

 

Jack let out a small sigh, and chuckled a little. “ _She wore a yellow dress to the Hyperion Gala_.” Rhys caught a smile rise on Jack’s lips. “ _She looked stunning... Anyway, she came back to my office afterwards..we danced some more..and then had sex for the first time on top of my desk. Now that, is something not anyone else should know about_.” He seemed a bit proud of the memory he’d just plopped out there for Rhys to relay. His smug smile and cocked brow showed that much. 

Rhys on the other hand was a bit more surprised at the choice of memory. He glanced back at (y/n), readying himself. “Um...you wore a yellow dress to the gala...and...” he glanced back at Jack who was still smiling and nodded him along. “...and then had sex with Jack..for the first time...on top of his desk..” 

 

(Y/n)’s eyes definitely widened this time. “Look I don’t know how you know that. But I’ve had enough of this. I wouldn’t waste the time on you, but I want what’s really inside of your head. So I’m calling security.”

 

Rhys quickly glanced at Jack. Giving him a look, begging him to tell him what to do. 

 

The door behind them slid open and two armored men walked in. 

 

“Take Rhys here down to the holding cells, and don’t damage his head.” The woman waved them out as she went back to her work. 

 

The men wrapped their hands around Rhys’s arms and began dragging him down the hallway. 

Almost as quickly as he’d gotten into her office, he was drug back out. At least he wasn’t dead. 

“ _Alright, Rhysie. I’ve got a plan. I’m gonna take control of your arm and knock these assholes out once we get down to the holding cell level. Tell your little friends to meet us there_.” Jack spoke before disappearing into Rhys’s head. 

 

•

 

“Just get yourself arrested, okay? I’ll meet you down there. I have a plan.” Rhys huffed into the echo as he closed the com with Fiona. 

 

Jack was chuckling from behind him at the unconscious guards lying on the floor. Obviously proud of his ability to easily knock them out using Rhys’s arm. “ _Heh. Idiots_.” 

 

•

 

After meeting Fiona and going over Rhys’s  (Jack’s) plan - the two of them, plus Gortys, stared up into the spinning saws and jabbing mechanisms that blocked their way through Jack’s secret tunnle/trap door of death. 

 

“Okay. I’ll head up, just keep the lever up so the saws don’t turn back on. I’ll get the upgrade and head back down.” Rhys spoke confidently as he perched his fists on his hips. 

 

“Yeah. Okay. Just hurry up, Hyperion.” Fiona rolled her eyes, smirking down at Gortys. 

 

“Try not to die! I know that may be difficult, but I believe in you!” The cheery voice of the little robot called up to him.

 

Rhys turned with a huff and looked up. With Fiona holding the lever, the death trap had stopped for now. 

 

•

 

After a few nauseating minutes of climbing up the tunnel, Rhys pushed up and into the office of Handsome Jack.

He looked around, awestruck. How many times had be dreamed of being in here? Standing in front of the desk of his hero, looking into the eyes of the man who ruled. That wasn’t the case though. Not completely, at least. Sure, Jack sat in his yellow throne - smiling to himself as he seemed to enjoy being back in his office. However, he was only a fraction of the real Handsome Jack now. Only an AI of the infamous man. 

Still, Rhys could help but smile to himself at the blossoming euphoric feeling of finally getting to stand in this room with the man, himself. Looking at the larger than life view of Elpis before him, and the massive size of Jack’s ego echoing throughout the size and decor of the room. 

 

He had a job to do. However much he wanted to just keep standing here ogling at the things from his fantasies - he needed to find that upgrade. 

 

And he _did_ find it...along with _much_ more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was getting annoyed at trying to basically summarize what all happened in Tales, but not have it in like two paragraphs.. and I’m not totally pleased with how it turned out..but oh well. 
> 
>  
> 
> I wanted to thank everyone who’s commented such sweet things! They make me smile so much! I love you all! ^_^ 
> 
> This chapter followed the canon pretty closely, because I wanted the reader to meet Rhys this way. It will deviate again though :) 
> 
> I’m already working on the next chapter, but I don’t know when it’ll be posted yet.  
> Also, thank you to everyone being so nice about me taking a bit longer to update! 💛


	25. We’re Alone Now

Reader POV

  
The view outside of the window that overlooked the stars was always calming. The few shuttles and other space vehicles that were always docking and launching at least gave you something ever-changing to focus on.  
Most days there wasn’t usually all that much “ _down time_ ” to spend peering out into space. This day definitely wasn’t like most days. The usual work day had ended more than an hour ago, but after the annoyance with _Rhys_ , you decided to hang back a bit longer.  
You couldn’t get your thoughts to stop coming back to what he’d tried to pass off. An AI of Jack...exactly like him. Was that even possible? You’d known of other AIs. Plenty of them - but even this seemed a bit farfetched .

You knew of Nakayama, and Jack had told you even more about the strange, but brilliant Professor. That the man was completely obsessed with him and probably wouldn’t stop at anything to make him immortal. Was that what this possible AI was? An immortal version of Jack. Nakayama’s disappearance from Helios had raised some questions, but no one seemed to know where he had gone. It _had_ also been around the same time Jack had died.

“No. It’s just a coincidence. He had to be lying. Jack is _gone_ and-“ you felt that familiar deep pain in your chest breaking your resolve. You let your eyes squeeze shut as you took in a deep breath - shakily letting it back out again. “Damn it!” You shouted, bringing your hand down hard against the window. Not even the activity out there was keeping your thoughts away this time.  
“ _But what if he wasn’t lying_?” The little voice in your head kept repeating, keeping your thoughts right where you didn’t want them.  
You shook your head. “No. No... He didn’t want to die, so he used the idea of Jack as leverage. That’s... that’s all.” You spoke aloud. You weren’t sure who you were trying to convince. Yourself...or the completely empty room.

  
You moved away from the window and sat back down in your chair. There were papers and ECHOdevices splayed across it. To this day, you still took on more work than you probably should - but no one could ever say that it wasn’t all finished before or on time.  
You looked down and began stacking the papers together and sliding them inside of your desk’s drawer. Maybe it was best to finish these tomorrow, when you had a clearer head.

The sound of your com opening startled you a bit, causing you to jump. That proved it. Your mind definitely wasn’t clear right now.

“Ma’am? I’m sorry for the interruption. I was told that you were still in your office though-“

“What is it? Who am I speaking with?” You cut the other voice off - already annoyed. You didn’t recognize his face. Not really surprising though. Helios employs a vast number of people.

“Apologies. This is Sgt. Felmer with security. I’m in charge of the men who escorted the young man to the holding cells.”

“Oh. Has Rhys been moved to cybernetics yet? I’d rather not wait for too long for-“

“Pardon my interruption. That’s what I was calling about ma’am. Rhys escaped custody.”

Your breath hitched for a moment and you could feel the anger begin to boil. “What do mean - _he escaped_?! Who the hell does guy think he is? Where is he now?!” You snapped your questions at the man on the other end. Nostrils flared, brow knitted together.

“We aren’t sure. Another patrol apprehended a few of his accomplices though. They also....escaped custody... They had some sort of robot with them. Not Hyperion though.”

“Find them then! I want him found immediately. You’re lucky I’m not ordering you and your men’s asses to be airlocked for losing them all in the first place. Find them. Soon. Or I won’t be so generous.” Your voice mirrored a growl as you closed out of the call.

This is definitely not what you needed. Not today.  
You leaned back in your chair, letting your head rest against the back and closed your eyes. There wasn’t really anything you could do right now, and allowing yourself to calm down was probably a good way to go. You kept your eyes closed as you tried focusing on more peaceful thoughts...or how you’d kill that guy once you got whatever it was out of his head. Thoughts like that weren’t going to help though. You let your mind drift for a bit, focusing on keeping your thoughts as far away from Rhys and Jack as you could.

“HEY KIDDOS. DADDY’S HOME.”

Your eyes sprang open at the booming voice. Not just any voice though. _Jack’s_ voice. You quickly sat straight up listening to the voice continue to talk. He...no... _it_ was talking about Rhys. You sat still trying to listen. Your heart was pounding at the familiar voice that you hadn’t heard in years. Your mind swirling at the sudden surprise. It was hard to even focus on the words before they stopped all together.

“No! No...no...come back!” You shouted, quickly trying to make sense of things. You sat still for a few minutes waiting to see if his voice would return, but nothing happened. You turned to your computer and attempted to gain access’s to Helios’s main system, only to see that the entire system was locked down. Signed in as ~HJACK69~  
Your eyes widened at the username.  
“That’s-... How?” you whispered to yourself. You needed to get to Jack’s office and get to the bottom of this.

You turned your screen off and went to stand, rolling your chair back as your computer’s holographic screen came back to life, catching your eyes. You stopped instantly, seemingly paralyzed at what you saw. Your eyes widened as your mouth fell open.

“....Jack?” The whispered word, barely audible, fell from your lips as your eyes stayed locked on to the screen.

“ _Hey hey, sweetheart_.” A soft smile appearing on his lips.

You couldn’t speak. The words just weren’t there. Your entire brain seemed to stop everything it was supposed to be doing for a moment. You couldn’t blink, move, speak, or even breathe.

Your hand instinctually reached out towards the display to touch him - ghosting right through it. “He wasn’t lying...” you whispered, more to yourself, but loud enough for the holographic man to hear.

His smile remained, as he shook his head slightly. “ _No. He wasn’t...but that’s not important right now. What is important, is that I find him. So that I can kill him before he does something stupid_.”

You could still hardly believe what your eyes were seeing, what your ears were hearing. It _was_ Jack. The way he talked, the way he moved when he said things. It was _exactly_ like him. Your entire body felt like it was tingling. Your heart pounded so heavily you could feel it in your chest.

“I - I don’t know where he is... How..? How is this possible?” Your intense stare hadn’t lessened, and your heart was still pounding so loudly in your ears that it was difficult to ignore - but every one of your senses that could be, were locked on to Jack. Your head was swimming with questions, feelings, and emotions you hadn’t felt in years. You felt as if you might faint, but something in you forced your mind to stay alert, to not miss any of this.

“ _I’ll explain it all once I find Rhy_ -“ Jack let out a dark chuckle. “ _Got him. I’ll be back, Pumpkin_.” Immediately the screen went dark and disappeared.

Those four words hit harder than you would’ve expected them to. Those same four words he’d said before...before he left....before he died. You felt a strong tinge of pain rush through you at hearing them again. Knowing that he hadn’t come back last time. Knowing that even though a copy of him was “ _back_ ”, it still wasn’t him. Not really.  
That didn’t matter though. Your heart and thoughts were now racing. Part of him was back, a _version_ just like him. Your heart had instantly latched on to it, as if it was a tiny sliver of hope of having Jack back in your life.  
So many things had changed since he left. You weren’t even the same woman anymore. The things you’ve done, the people you’ve killed, the ways you’ve changed into being like the very man you missed beyond comprehension. They’d all become part of who you are now. However, for a brief 30 or so seconds, you were back to that fragile girl that melted at the sight and sound of Handsome Jack. The absolute pure desire to have him near again being stronger than any wall you’d built up over the past couple years.

 •

You sat at your desk, waiting for something, _anything_ , to happen. He had to come back this time. Right? He had to.  
_Please_.

The lights flickering pulled your eyes up to the large light fixture on the ceiling. That was strange. Helios didn’t have power problems. Especially not in this area of the station. You let your eyes fall as to not keep starring into the light that seemed to be fine now.  
Until it happened again.  
You quickly stood from your seat - to walk into the hall and see if it was just your lights or not.

All of sudden it felt as if the entire space station rocked. The lights flickered off completely for a second. Then back on again. Another jolting rocking feeling followed by the lights flickering again.

HELIOS THRUSTERS OFFLINE. ORBITAL TRAJECTORY COMPROMISED. IMPACT WITH PANDORA IMMINENT. PLEASE BEGIN EVACUATION PROCEDURES .  
REPEAT.  
HELIOS THRUSTERS OFFLINE. ORBITAL TRAJECTORY COMPROMISED. IMPACT WITH PANDORA IMMINENT. PLEASE BEGIN EVACUATION PROCEDURES.  
REPEAT.  
A robotic voice spoke calmly as a siren began echoing through every speaker on the station.

“No no no. Not Helios!” Another rocking feeling caused your footing to fail. You fell into the window looking over The Hub. Your hands pressed firmly against the glass to keep your balance as you could still almost feel the station move under your feet. People below were now unsurprisingly in a panic. Running for the stairs and elevators that were thankfully still being ran by the backup power. You could see lights throughout the entire Hub begin failing - growing darker and darker without the warm artificial lights. Emergency lighting lit up certain areas in an eerie blue/green glow. You could see crowds of people swarming into large groups at the exits and tram entrances, pushing others to save themselves.

A horrible gut wrenching feeling had planted its self inside of you. Your chest felt heavy and empty at the same time, painful almost. Your brows were furrowed as you watched the chaos below. You turned your head to look across the room and out of the other window. Your eyes widened at the increasing amount of traffic now starting to leave the station. So frantically that some were bumping and even crashing into other shuttles and the first of the escape pods leaving.

You pulled your eyes away from both sites - looking down. The rich dark wood of your floor being a much less painful sight.  
_Helios was falling_.

•

You heard Jack’s voice over the speakers again as you quickly walked down the halls. Rhys was the cause of this. If you could find him, you might be able to find Jack. Maybe save Helios before it was too late, but you already knew that was unlikely. That’s the plan, at least.

People were running past, some were just sitting on the floor crying, a few had even decided to take their death into their own hands. You could see escape pods being released on other levels through the windows. So many people.

You didn’t know what had happened since Rhys left your office. Obviously something bad. He now had you, and Jack wanting to kill him. After he gave you the answers you wanted though.

•

The annoying siren and repeated message was still blaring. You had no idea where to find Rhys, but heading towards the power core was probably the best bet. Luckily enough power was still on for doors to be working.

Your echoband began ringing. This was definitely not the time for a call. However, it was Emily calling.

“Emily? Where are you? Are you headed for a pod?” You spoke loudly so that maybe she’d be able to hear you over the siren.

“No. I’m not. I was heading to your office. Where are you!?” She sounded strangely calm.

“I’m headed to the power core. I-“ Your sentence was cut short as you rounded a corner, bumping directly into the very same woman on the call.

You both stopped, wide eyed at seeing the other.

“Emily! You need to-“

“No, I’m not leaving without you! What are you even doing?” She seemed a bit more frantic now. Her eyes wide and brows furrowed.

“Jack is on the station!” You blurted the very first thought that was on your mind. The same thought that had been swimming through your mind for nearly an hour.

Emily’s eyes narrowed. “What..? What do you mean? He’s dead, (y/n).” Her hand had come out to reach for your shoulder. You could tell the worry in her was growing.

“Didn’t you hear his voice?! It’s an AI of him. He’s here. I have to find him! I...I can’t lose him again...”

Emily’s eyes saddened. This was one topic the two of you never really addressed. She knew you missed him, and it hurt her to see you lose so much happiness so quickly, but she always avoided the topic of Jack completely for you.  
“We have to get to the escape pods...especially you... I know you miss him, but-“

“Emily, I have to try and find him! We’re just wasting time!” You tried to move past her, but she stopped you by holding your arms and shoving you against the wall. Her eyes bore into you now. She looked scared.

“(Y/n). It’s not _him_. AI or not. Jack _isn’t_ here. That’s not him! You have to evacuate. You’re the current president of Hyperion. You have to get off of Helios!”  
Her eyes traveled between yours, begging for you to understand. “Please, (y/n).”

You hadn’t cared if you didn’t make it off of Helios. You hadn’t even considered trying to escape. This was home, your entire life. ...but it was everyone else’s home too. Everyone that was fleeing for safety. Emily included, and she was begging you to come with her. Instead of running to save herself, she had sought you out. Because she knew you would try to stay.

You could see the worry in her face. Without saying anything, she was begging you to not make her leave you behind. You weren’t sure if she even would.  
This was beyond painful. On one end, you had the possibility of seeing and hearing Jack again. Even if he was just an AI - it was something. The moment you had heard his voice again, felt like so much of the cold, depressing feeling that had taken over your life, instantly dissipated. You could go down with Helios, having his voice be last one you heard. There was nothing down there on Pandora for you anyway. On the other end, you had the woman who’d been your closest friend for years, even through the last couple years that you’d pulled away from her and everyone else, trying to save your life. Thinking of _you_ over herself.

It was a crushing feeling.

You let your head drop. Giving up on trying to break free of her grasp. “Fine...” you whispered out. You cleared your throat and resumed your strong, leading voice. “We need to run. Most of the pods are probably gone by now.”

Emily nodded once and let go.  
The two of you sprinted down the hallway. You had ditched your heels hoping it would make running easier. It did, but with the nylon of your stockings - you had to keep catching yourself on walls or Emily’s arm as you’d slide and nearly fall while running around a corner. If it was any other situation, it would’ve been rather fun to slide through the halls.

Although, you realized you’d missed the chance to ever run through the long hallways of Helios. Laughing as you slid and probably falling many times. Gaining bruises and strange looks from people.

•

Finally, you both ran through the door to the escape pod bay on level E. You had been right. Most were gone. There were a few that seemed to not be working, and some had people still climbing into them.

“(Y/n)! Here’s one!” Emily called from further down the long walkway.

You ran over to her. She motioned for you to get in, and you did. It was cramped, but you were small enough for it to be fine.  
You looked up at her as she was still just standing there.

“Emily, lets go! Get in!”

She shook her head. “They only fit one person, I’ll have to find another one.” You watched her glance down the hall quickly.

Your eyes widened. Knowing that it had been difficult to find this one. “Emily. No! You can fit-“

“It doesn’t matter! The extra weight would mess it up. The trajectory would be all off! You know that, (y/n)!” She pushed you back inside as you had tried to climb out to pull her in with you. “It’ll be okay...” she tried giving a reassuring smile. Quickly with another push to get you back inside the pod, her hand slammed down on the release button. The window instantly slid shut - sealing you inside.

“No!” You began pounding on the window as you slowly began to fall back into open space.  
Your pounds lessened as your eyes caught on to other pods still escaping from various levels. Larger shuttles were also docking and taking off still. Debris was falling all around. You could see lights of Helios flickering here and there. Panels falling off the sides and some hitting some shuttles.

It was a horribly depressing sight. Watching Helios break apart. Watching everything you cared about... _falling_.

“(Y/n)? (Y/n), I found one! Further down to the right! Pod E-38. I’m ejecting now, can you see me?”

You leaned forward looking in the direction. You watched as the bright yellow pod labeled E-38 ejected and began descending on its course.  
“Yes! Oh my god! You found one!” You felt a brief wave of happiness rush over you.

You heard Emily’s breath falter though the com. “Oh my gosh.... Helios is crumbling..” her tone was quiet, her words sounded full of pain and fearful awe.

You looked up to where she must be looking. A large section was falling. Large chunks of debris falling along with it. Your eyes latched onto a piece that was above where Emily had ejected from. The weight causing it to fall quicker. Your eyes stayed locked on to it, before catching sight of a yellow pod it was heading right for. E-38.

“Oh my g-“ you whispered. “Emily. Emily, which way is your chair facing?”

“Towards Pandora... yours?” Her voice was shaky, so very unlike her. It hurt to hear her like this.

  
She couldn’t see the large chunk of debris falling above her. Not while facing the planet.

You took in a deep breath. Trying to make yourself sound calm. Your eyes stayed locked on the impending debris. “Yeah...mine too..” you lied. “It’s- it’s kind of pretty from up here, isn’t it?” Your breathing was growing heavier as your heart pounded harder and harder watching the chunk of metal building falling quicker than the pod.

You heard her chuckle a little. “Yeah, I guess it kind of is, huh? (Y/n)...wh-when we land...we’ll find each other, right?”

Your own breath hitched. “Of course, Emily.” You tried to sound reassuring. _Please don’t hit, please don’t hit_.

Just as the words left your lips, the large piece of metal collided into the pod sending it spinning out of control and right into the path of a shuttle near your pod.

You heard Emily gasp, and a thud but nothing else.

“EMILY!” You screamed watching her pod heading straight for the vessel. “Emily can you hear me!? Are you alright?”

No response. The com was quiet. You didn’t know if she was unconscious or...or _gone_ already.  
Her pod crashed into the side of the shuttle, causing both to explode on impact.

“NOOOO!” You screamed again, nearly losing your voice.

It felt like time had slowed, but it had all happened so quickly. While you watched, being absolutely powerless.

“I’m so sorry...” the words barely even a whisper.

Your eyes locked on to more large pieces of the station falling above you. Your heart was pounding so loudly that you couldn’t even hear if anything was going through your mind or not. You were so in shock that you didn’t even register the large metal object colliding with your pod from above.

Your pod was jolted as it was hit. Your head slammed into the wall of the pod. You could feel blood begin to trickle down your temple, and intense pain. Your vision began blurring a bit before everything fell into complete darkness.  
The glow of Helios’s eye being the last thing to fade away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Sorry for the longer wait for this update. I’ve just started not really liking how I’m writing this whole story. It’s much better in my head ^_^ and then just seems crappy once I re-read it. 
> 
> Your comments are keeping me going though! If you’re liking it and want more, then I shall try and deliver! 
> 
> On that note, thank you all so much for your comments! They never fail to make me smile and feel loved! I wish could explain how happy reading them makes me, without sounding weird or dumb ^_^ 
> 
> The next chapter will probably be posted in a week or so. I’ve gotten the basic idea for it, just have to fill it out!  
> I’m hoping you like where I’m going to take the story for a bit, if not...you’ll just have to push through and keep reading until later chapters ^_^
> 
> Did ya like the new trailer for Borderlands 3? I woke up early to see what it was going to be and was a little surprised at it just being a trailer, but I wasn’t too disappointed. I liked it either way. It was fun ^_^ and did you notice Jack’s masks on the mountain in the background towards the end? 😏💛


	26. The Unknown

Your heavy eyes slowly opened. The room was still pretty dark. The soft glow of the fish tank began easing you awake. How long had you been sleeping? You took in a deep breath, pulling in the familiar smells of Jack. Your arms stretched above you into the layers of thick pillows and satin sheets, feeling their coolness against your warm skin.

 You glanced up as you heard the bathroom door open.

“Sorry, pumpkin. Didn’t mean to wake you.” Jack smiled as he crossed the room and crawled on to the bed over you.

You smiled back letting your hands rub up his arms, feeling the flexed muscles. Soft, slightly hairy, warm skin. It felt magical almost, like it was something you’d missed for so long. You weren’t quite sure where that feeling was coming from. It was...strange.

“You didn’t.” You purred, looking up into his enchanting eyes.

“You’re smiling a lot.” He said, equally smiling as he gazed down at you. He was on hands and knees, encasing you with his body.

You let your hands roam over his arms, down his sides and across his back. You wanted to touch him, to constantly feel him under your fingers. “I’ve missed you...”

His smiled faltered a bit as he looked a tad confused. “Missed me? I only got out of bed a little bit ago.” He chucked a little, his smile showing off his canines.

Why  _did_  you said that? Without even thinking, that was what fell from your lips. The feeling was still there though. You  _had_  missed him. Maybe you’d had a bad dream the night before that you couldn’t quite remember.

Then it started to come back. Your brows furrowed as you remembered things.

“I...I had an awful dream. I think it was a dream, it had to be... It felt so real... You..you died and I was all alone. Then Helios... Helios stared falling from space... I don’t remember anything after that though..”

“Hey...hey...” Jack spoke softly, pulling your attention back to him. “It was just a dream, (y/n). You’re okay. I’m right here.” His lips curved up into his usual cocky smirk. “..I can’t die, remember? I’m too friggin sexy and important to die.” His smile was contagious and the little, slow lick he gave to his lips was purely tantalizing.

You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him down closer to you. Your lips pressed together. The fluttering feeling of your butterflies began to engulf you. The warmth of his lips against yours melting you instantly. He began deepening the kiss as he lowered onto his elbows and forearms. His hands caressing the sides of your face as his tongue danced with yours.

He smelled so good. Freshly showered, and still warm from the steamy water. His mask still lying on the table next to the bed. You let your hands wander further over his back and down the curve to the top of his ass. His  _naked_  ass. You squeezed your fingers a little causing him to pull away with a playful smirk.

“You’re still naked.” You smiled, letting your fingers knead his uncovered cheeks.

“Mhmm. Can’t really do anything fun with clothes on, now can I, kitten?” His wink sent tingles down your body. You rose your hips up just enough to brush against him. You could feel his firm arousal through the blankets that you were still under.  _Those needed to go_. He seemed to read your mind as he leaned up - pulling the blankets down, allowing you to free your legs. You were also naked. Not uncommon for you to be naked in his bed, but you couldn’t really remember last night or much of anything, really. You didn’t think too much into it. There was a fully naked Jack above you and that’s really all that mattered.

You draped your arms around his shoulders again, pulling yourself on to his lap and wrapping your legs around him. He pulled you closer for a kiss as he began moving the two of you further up on the bed. You broke the kiss and pushed him down - his head against the pillows now. His dazzling eyes peered up at you with a sultry smirk placed on his lips. His hands slowly caressed down your sides, griping your hips as he landed on them. You leaned forward, kissing him deeply again as you maneuvered your now throbbing sex over his erect member. Slowly, you slid down on him. Allowing yourself to stretch over his girth. He let out a breathy moan, his eyes rolling back a bit as they closed.  _God, he looked so good_. His fingers gripped tighter as you began rotating your hips - taking more of him in. You could hear his breathing grow louder, little grunts and soft moans escaping him. Your own soft whimpers and sounds of pleasure mixing in.

He pulled you down, hand griping the back and side of your neck with a perfect amount of pressure. Intertwining your tongues with open lips pressed against each other, and sharing heavy breaths with one another. His hips rose a bit as he began pumping himself into you, taking over control. You let out a gasp as he began thrusting deeper and quicker. You buried your face in his neck, peppering it with kisses and little suckles. “J- ack...” you moaned out, against his neck. Your fingers digging into his sides at his pleasuring thrusts.

A low purr rumbled through his chest at your noises, at the breathy sound of his name from your lips. You sucked a lovely little bruise on to his skin before pushing yourself back up again. He allowed you to take the reigns once more as you rode him. His hips echoing your movements allowing for perfect rhythm. You leaned forward slightly, letting yourself slide up and down his throbbing cock at a quicker pace. The deep, completely full feeling he gave you was pure ecstasy - rubbing against your sensitive walls, feeling how wet he’d gotten you, and hearing his moans of pleasure - began building your climax. “Ja-... I’m goin- com- coming...” you breathily managed to almost form a sentence.

He pulled you down, against his warm chest, his fingers holding your hips down as he began thrusting into you harder. His lips met yours, enveloping you with a deep and passionate kiss. Instantly, the explosive sensation rocked through your body. Your muscles convulsed, tightening all around him and squeezing against his fully aroused shaft. You let out a loud moan, burying your face into his neck again. His powerful scent adding on to the already immense pleasure. You heard him moan deeply and with a deep thrust, you felt him spill inside of you. His legs tightening and just slightly twitching as he slowly pumped through the remainder of his climax.

After a few breath-catching moments, you pulled away to see his eyes slowly open and meet yours. His lips curved into a gorgeous smile.  _This man_. He looked so beautiful. Hair a mess, wonderful pouty lips just barely parted, and mesmerizing mismatched emerald and sapphire eyes. Maybe you were heightened a bit with post-coital bliss, but you felt happier then you felt like you had in a long time.

 _There it is was again_...that strange feeling.

A pounding ache began to make its self known throughout your head. You closed your eyes tightly trying to make it stop. It only seemed to increase.

You opened your eyes again to see a dimly lit room. Steel grey walls with red numbers, words, and various lines painted on them. This wasn’t Jack’s bedroom. You didn’t know where you were. None of this was familiar. You quickly sat up. Also, very quickly, realizing that was a bad idea. Your aching head boomed with the same pounding ache - only much more intense now. You brought your hand up to press against it in hopes of easing the pain. The rather (now noticeable) uncomfortable cot you’ve been lying on, squeaked loudly as you moved.

You kept your eyes squeezed shut and hands firmly against your head, trying to hold in the pressure waves of pain. You scooted back against the wall, bringing out yet another loud squeal from the obviously old cot.

 _What was happening_? What was this pain from?  _Where was Jack_?

Oh... it was just a dream...

You heard muffled footsteps quickly enter the room but stop immediately once they entered the doorway. Still holding your head, you glanced up to see who had entered.

A tall figure stood in the doorway. One hand on the frame as if they weren’t sure if they should leave or stay. You couldn’t make out who they were. The light behind them being brighter than the one in this room.

“Who are you?” You asked rather hoarsely, barely looking up at them through your hands. Your throat was quite dry and talking any louder would probably make your head pound even harder.

They hesitated for a moment, but eventually stepped into the room. You forced your head up and squinted to look at them. The light wasn’t helping the pounding aches, but this person obviously wasn’t just going to say their name and make this easier. Your vision focused more as they took a few more steps closer. Still several feet away from you though. Why are they hesitating so much? They must know who you are, to be acting like they’re... _afraid_? to come closer.

Your sights were pointed more at their feet right now, trying to keep as much of your head still as possible. Each movement sent pain throughout your entire skull.

Socks. Blue and yellow stripped socks...with  _stars_. You squinted for a moment at the socks.Your head was practically begging you not to move it again. You began to slightly look up for another wave of pain to rush through. You looked back down, grabbing your head with both hands again.

The feet quickly moved closer. “Your head hurts? How badly?”

The voice sounded familiar, but only slightly. A man’s voice. Your eyes were squeezed shut now. You felt a hand touch your wrist. “May I see? I need to redo your bandage anyway...”

“ _Redo my bandage? So this person is taking care of me_?” You thought to yourself. “What happened?” You asked, keeping your hands against your head.

You heard him sigh quietly. “...You don’t remember?”

You felt his fingers wrap around your wrist and pull slightly. You let your arm drop down, giving him access. Slowly, you raised your eyelids to see who this mystery person was as he began messing with what you could only assume was the bandage he had referred to. The lights were dim, but still caused your head to ache more with seeing them. You immediately noticed the odd attire and the lack of an arm. You glanced up further.

Your eyes widened. “You.” The man quickly glanced down and met your now glaring gaze. His face showed slight worry and his eyes...no...eye. The other one was...partially gone?

He stopped what he was doing, pulling away with a rather bloody bandage in his hand. He stepped back and tossed it into a trashcan.

He didn’t say anything, just stood there. Like he was waiting for you to say something else.

“R- Reed...no...Rrrr...”

“Rhys...” the chestnut haired man spoke up.

“Rhys.” You glared, your voice low and sharp. You looked over the man. He looked awful. His clothes had some rips and were rather dirty looking. There appeared to be blood on his shirt. He was missing an arm. His hair was rather messy - little curls were falling on to his forehead, and he had either lost his shoes or had given up wearing them for the time being. “What happened to you? Where is your other arm?”

His brows furrowed and he glanced down for a moment. “I....lost it, and my eye...”

“How...?”

He looked back up. He stalled for a moment, just looking at you. His expression seemed sad. He let out a deep breath. “Jack tried to kill me by taking over my cybernetics...”

Your brow knitted. “Wha-“ Then it all hit you like a massive wave. Your memories came flooding back in. Rhys. Jack. Emily. Helios.

“Oh my god... Emily... Helios...” You were looking down now as the memories began returning. They weren’t helping your pounding head at all. The overwhelming feeling of pain ridden sadness began to form. You took in a deep breath.  _Stay strong_.  _Do NOT look weak_. You looked back up to Rhys. He was still just standing there, his expression was definitely one of sorrow now. “Where is he now?” You asked, sitting up more. Your voice shakier than you would like it to be.

Rhys’s eyes widened. “W-who? Jack?”

“Yes. Where is he?” You shook your head lightly. “Where is his AI?”

Rhys looked down again. “He’s gone.”

“Gone?! What do mean, he’s gone?” Your voice had raised now, as had the rest of you. Now standing, Rhys was looking at you again. His eyes widened with a look of fear for a split second. Your head bashed, begging for you to stop moving.

His tone remained calm. “He tried to kill me. He wanted to shove a metal skeleton into my body so that he could use it as his own puppet. He wanted to do the same to a loooooot of people. Make an army of himself.”

You were a bit confused. “What...?”

Rhys shrugged his shoulders. “I had to  _rip_  him out of my cybernetics. His AI was rampant. As soon as he got all of the real Jack’s power back, it was like a switch flicked. He turned on me and tried to kill me...so I had to stop him. It wasn’t exactly something I wanted either, okay? So don’t think this was all part of my plan or something. He-he..was my hero...was..” He looked down again, fiddling with a clean, unopened bandage in his hand.

Your heart and head were pounding. The man in front of you legitimately looked sad, like it had hurt him to remove Jack’s AI, and not just physically. You could learn more about that later. It wasn’t something you felt like you could handle right now. “How did I get here?” You glanced around again, actually seeing the room now. “It looks...Atlas..”

Rhys glanced around too. “It uh...it is Atlas. It’s where the Gortys project is from.” He apparently noticed your expression and decided to explain a bit more. “She’s a robot. That is supposed to open a vault...but, I don’t know where she is now. Which is probably a good thing. Best to just put all of this behind me...” he seemed to drift off, talking more to himself than you.

 _A vault? The Gortys project? That sounded familiar. Who was this guy?_  Later _._

“Does it have a shower?” You spoke up as he grew silent. You needed some type of distraction from everything that was happening. All of the thoughts that you were now drowning in.

He looked back up and nodded. “Yeah. Um, I mean. Yes. Follow me. Can you walk alright?” His hand reached out towards you.

“I’m fine. My head just hurts.” You kept your arms down. Taking care of you or not. You didn’t trust this guy.

He seemed to get the point and turned. His damn long legs took single strides you had to make several steps to equal. You followed him down a hallway and into what looked like a locker room. “Showers are on the back wall. There’s some towels nearby on the counter...” he glanced you over. “...um, you’ll probably want to change though, right?”

You looked from his rather disheveled appearance and down at your own. There was a blood stain down the left side of your shoulder and on your chest. Dried blood really didn’t compliment yellow. Dirt also seemed to have made its place all over your entire outfit. Your nylon stockings were ripped in several places, including around a couple of your toes. Your hand quickly rose up to your neck in a panic. Feeling that the dainty eridium pendant was still there, allowed a slight rush of relief to come over you. You noticed Rhys’s eyes look to it as well.

Your fingers fiddled with it for a moment, as they often did without you even realizing it.

“Do you  _have_  any other clothes..?” You asked, again looking at the same clothes you had seen him wear in your office.

He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Um...I think there’s some old employee clothes. They’ll probably be too big for you though...”

You sat on a bench, pulling your skirt up your thigh and began rolling down your ripped stockings, earring the widened eyes of Rhys as he quickly looked the other way. “That’s fine. At least they won’t be covered in blood...I hope?”

“Uh... yeah! I mean, no. They shouldn’t be...covered in...” he turned slightly glancing back at you, his eyes hitting your legs first and then rising up - meeting your gaze. His eyes widened again. “Um...covered in-in...blood. Yeah...um, they should be clean. Or clean-er.” He slightly smiled or at least tried to and nodded his head. “I’ll bring you some...you can go ahead and get in.” He then turned and quickly walked out of the room.

You snickered to yourself and rolled your eyes. It had been awhile since you’d caught someone that seemingly shy...or awkward...looking at you that way. You were way too used to the corporate assholes who thought they were a gift to the galaxy. You stopped your thoughts there. Thinking down that line would only end up on Jack again.

You finished undressing and stepped into the shower, stepping to the side as you turned the water on. It splurted out brownish at first, but cleared up. You waited until the water was warm enough and stepped in. The water stung the top left side of your head. That must be where you hit it - what’s causing all of this pain now. You felt tired, not necessarily sleepy, but just completely worn out. Your legs and arms felt heavy, and even though the water was helping - you still felt like you should sit before you fell and hit your head  _again_. The floor looked clean enough. You lowered yourself down and sat - back against the tiled wall.

The warm water felt nice against your aching body. You hadn’t realized how sore you were until just now. Other than your head, of course. Which was still pounding furiously and occasionally stinging as the water would hit against it. At least it was getting cleaned - even if you weren’t sure how clean this water really was.

How had you gotten here? To this building. Wherever this building was, that is. You’d need to ask Rhys once you got out. You let out a huff as you sneered. From what you’d gathered since first learning about this Rhys guy - you didn’t much care for him. A thief, a liar, someone who meddled in things he should’ve just left alone, and...

Your thoughts quickly descended to a place you wished you could avoid entirely. ...Jack.

“ _He’s gone_.” Rhys had told you.  _Gone_. Again _..._

All of the light that had peeked through that moment his AI had spoken to you, was gone now. Your last chance at having him in some form of existence, was crushed.  _Gone_. So was Emily, Helios, and everything else.

You’d been able to keep going two years ago when you’d learned of Jack’s death. You had to. Working for Hudson was horrible. Killing him was liberating and felt great. You still held the memory fondly. Taking over Helios was stressful, but it had become almost everything to you. The work was tedious and never ending, but you needed that. Definitely at first. The constant morning to night job had been excellent at keeping your thoughts busy - giving you something new to work towards. It was only when it died down during parts of the day and night that the thoughts and demons would make their way back into your mind. It did get better over the year and half that you had been ruling over Helios. Your thoughts were never far from reachable, and when opened, were still painful, but the ache had thankfully lessened - even if only a little. Helios and being the (stand in) president of Hyperion had been a lifesaver.

Now they were  _gone_.

Sure, Hyperion wasn’t just a massive moonbase hovering over Pandora and Elpis, but it’s other locations were far from reachable. Plus, after Jack took over, the other locations were transformed into mainly just manufactures for all of Hyperion’s products.

You sat on the tiled floor, knees pulled up against your chest, with your arms wrapped tightly around them. That empty hole in your chest felt deeper now than it ever had before. It wasn’t just Jack that was gone now. It was  _everything_  you cared for. Helios was home. It was the shining beacon in the distance that called you away from your shitty life on Pandora. It’s where your life had blossomed and changed into everything you’d ever wanted - and even things you didn’t know you wanted.

•

You could still remember the day it became visible on the horizon. Slowly moving into its destined position. To watch over Pandora and Elpis. You’d wanted off of the awful death-trap of a planet for years, but looking up into the night sky and seeing the growing space station - you finally had hope that you could actually leave one day.

Word spread of what Helios was. You’d heard of Hyperion before, but having them right above you made them seem even more inviting. You’d planned on running away and trying to get a job for a different company. One that was already on Pandora at the time. Atlas. However, getting off of the planet completely, won you over.

The night you’d run away would probably always stay fresh in your mind.

You’d been planning for months. After hacking into various systems, you’d come across a college on Elpis. A small one, mainly only for technicians, mechanics, and other various jobs that dealt with computer systems. It definitely wasn’t anything fancy. An old Dahl facility, that was gutted and turned into a new opportunity for the less fortunate people of the moon, Pandora, and anyone who just wanted to go there for some reason.

You knew your parents would never let you leave the planet or do anything other than what they wanted you to do - so running away was the only chance you had.

The few people you’d grown to call your friends were basically all misfits. The ones that helped you sneak out of the large cave almost every night, and would take you driving through the sands - as you’d look up to the night sky and dream of being up there. They knew how your parents were, and had thankfully been adamant on helping you escape this hellhole.

Your door was already locked for the night. You could hear your parents in the living room, watching whatever dumb show was on at the time. You had shoved a few outfits into an old bag, along with a few of your tinkering odds and ends. Basically some junk and an old Dahl ECHO that you’d modified to become one hell of a hacking machine. It did die pretty often, and needed repairs fairly regularly - but it did the job more often than not.

You braided your hair into a ponytail. At this time, it was rather long, reaching the top of your butt when let down. Another thing your parents controlled.

“ _You’ll get more tips at the bar, the prettier you look._ ”

You looked around your tiny room once more, seeing that you’d gotten everything you’d need, or at least that you could think of needing - you turned back to your window. After pulling aside the heavy, dirty curtain - you deactivated the alarm attached to the frame. The television was still loudly projecting from the other room. Good.

You pulled up on the window, letting a small breeze of the damp Hollowpoint air into your room. You gently let your bag down into the arms of one of your waiting friends, and then you followed. The number of times you’d snuck out of your wooden home was uncountable by now.

Out the window, down the old wooden wall, quiet steps through the dust on the cave floor, avoiding tripping on any stray dark rocks, down the small space between the other buildings and the cold rocky wall, and finally to the meeting place that the group always met at.

This night was almost the same as the others. You climbed into the back of a rigged up technical, your bag strapped onto your back. The others piled into their usual spots as the vehicle slowly pulled out and onto the path out of the cave. Once out, the speed was increased and off into the desert you’d all go. However, this night...you’d be being dropped off at the travel station. Quite a bit out of the way, but everyone was already in on the plan.

Your heart was pounding and your stomach was flipping and knotting itself up with nerves. Your brain kept telling you that it was probably best to just go back home, deal with whatever life threw at you and just stay with what you already knew - but your heart was screaming for you to finally have freedom!

You’d saved up enough over the last few years to be able to travel to Elpis. Secretly, of course. Little by little, you’d save your tips and other money you could, without your parents catching on. They’d already taken every other bit you’d earned - they wouldn’t take this from you too. There was no going back now. Not ever.

It took a couple of hours to get to the station. After many hugs, a few shed tears, and plenty of goodbyes - you slowly stepped up to the window of the machine to buy your ticket. You’d been delighted to see that you’d have a little bit left over. Buying something to eat and drink would probably be one of the first things to do once you landed.

Your stomach flipped again. You were really doing this. Running away from your awful life to the unknown.

You sat alone in the corner at the back of the waiting area. You didn’t want anyone sneaking up behind you. With how small and unassuming you look, you’d be an easy target for nearly anyone. You’d gotten a few stray looks from people passing by or crawling up to sleep the night away on a bench. A few people were already passed out, bottle in hand, against the walls or curled up in a chair. How could they sleep, knowing they could easily get murdered just because? Maybe they were used it, maybe they didn’t care. This was still Pandora after all. Hollowpoint was safer than most places, and you could at least be thankful you hadn’t grown up in a bandit camp, but being out in the world alone now was setting your nerves on full alert.

Your shuttle wouldn’t leave for about an hour.

Giving you plenty of time to observe and think. You could look up and see Elpis through the glass awning. Some of the panes were busted out, probably shot out, you figured. The purple glow seemed welcoming from here. A new home. A new chance at life. A new unknown.

What would you even do once you landed? You’d been accepted into the program. After many back and forth communications with the head of the school, all secret of course. You’d created a fake profile and made yourself an ID since you didn’t have one. Thanks to good ole mom and dad. Luckily, it worked and you’d been accepted after taking a couple entrance tests. You’d start immediately once you arrived. Live in a room with other people. Go to classes until you finally finished your course, and then you’d be free to go wherever you wanted. Within reason.

The thought of Hyperion not accepting you after everything was finished scared the hell out of you, but that was two years away. You had time.

Finally it was boarding time. You slid into your window seat and buckled in. Your bag, held firmly in your arms. You couldn’t risk it being stolen. Several more people piled in. By the time people stopped coming in, the shuttle was only about half full. Maybe 20-25 people onboard. This was heading straight for the college after all, or at least to the station near it.

The engines started up, causing the shuttle to vibrate throughout. It began moving on to the tracks that would allow it to become airborne. After a few seconds the speed increased and up into the night sky it went. You felt your stomach feel like it was floating around in your abdomen as the air got thinner. You peeked out of the window and could see the blackness all around, and Elpis’s purple glow getting brighter.

Finally, with a rather rough landing and some jostling, the shuttle came to a stop.

You waited for the people towards the front to get off before you made your way out behind them.

The metal platform attached to the landing tracks was littered with more people than you’d expected. People that must have arrived before you had. Older people hugging younger people. Then it clicked. They were parents. Parents who’d come to see their loved ones off to their new chapter in life. You frowned to yourself.

You strapped your bag around your shoulders and began squishing between the many bodies that felt the need to crowd the way into the station. You walked through the doors of the room that held many benches and broadcast boards. Various posters and business cards covered each board. Odd jobs and such were thumbtacked here and there for anyone who wanted the money enough. The ticket counters were already closed for the night and the last returning shuttle was the one you had already stepped off of. You let out a deep breath as you stood in front of the doors that led out to the moons surface.  _No going back. A new life. A new chance_.

The doors slid open as you stepped closer. You attached your complimentary oxygen kit to your shoulder and walked through. The purplish glow was more vibrant than you’d expected it to be up close, and your first step out of the gravity controlled room was quite a shock. That would take some getting used to. A small bus like vehicle was taking people to the college. The driver scanned your id and let you get on. Another sigh of relief that your id was actually in their system. You still couldn’t believe that all of this was really happening. A few hours ago, you were in your room - packing clothes and various things you’d need. Now you were on the freaking moon! The moon you’d looked up at almost every night, dreaming of walking on it one day.

•

Your first day had been a tangle of not knowing where to go, not knowing who to speak to, not knowing who not to speak to, and trying to learn your way around everywhere. Actually, that lasted about a week. Eventually, you did learn though and began to thoroughly enjoy your new life.

The course was challenging, but you loved it. You’d met a few people in your class that you liked well enough to sit with at lunch and walk back to the dorms and classes with each day.

Occasionally, you’d wonder what your parents had thought the next morning after you’d run away. You wished you’d rigged up a camera so that you could’ve seen their reaction. How mad they were, because you knew they wouldn’t have been worried. They didn’t care that much. You were just glad to finally be away from them, for good.

After several months, you were top of the class. Even the instructors were rather impressed at your ability to solve every problem they threw your way. Classmates would come to you for help, and you grew to like being the one that knew how to do everything. Thus, starting your desire to always show off your talents and prove yourself.

•

There was two months until the first semester would be over. It had been an amazing first year. You’d learned things you’d never have thought of, and improved on things you’d tinkered with for years. It wasn’t all just school and tech stuff though. You’d made some friends, and met a couple guys that you ended up liking. Neither of which lasted very long, but you enjoyed the experiences anyway.

You sat at a desk in the library, facing the window that overlooked the moon’s cratery surface. The small library wasn’t full of the traditional paper books, but rather rows and rows of holotapes, ECHOS, data sheets, and other various electronic information givers. Apparently, books were always damaged too often and the school decided to get rid of them completely.

You’d already finished your project for the day and were helping out a fellow classmate. You found yourself looking up at the Helios space station, as you often did. It’s tall towers still being constructed and it’s glowing center staring down at you. You wondered what it looked like on the inside. How many people were bustling around all hours of the day and night. What life was like up there. You’d heard it wasn’t easy, and just like anywhere else - you had to work hard to survive.

“Daydreaming of Helios again?” The low voice of the guy next to you spoke up. You’d been helping him finish up his project, but he had it mostly down by now.

You chuckled and turned back to face him. You rolled your eyes with a shrug of your shoulders - a small smile gracing your lips.

“Planning I’m working for Hyperion once we graduate?” He asked, looking between you and the computer he was typing on.

You smiled a little. “I’m hoping I will. What about you?”

He shook his head with a sneering smile, his nose scrunched a bit. He leaned back intertwining his hands behind his head and stretching. “Nah girl. My family is Dahl as far back as I can remember. I’ll probably head back down to Pandora and work for them once I’m out of here. My mamma‘d kill me if I tried working for another corporation.”

“I don’t plan on ever going back to that planet.” You chuckled, looking back out of the window. You immediately noticed the center of Helios begin to light up even more than usual. Your brows furrowed as you tried to see better, learning into the window itself. Your classmate seemed to notice, and stood to see what you were looking at so intently.

“Woah... What’s it doing?” He asked, making you jump a little at his voice, now close to you.

“I...I don’t know...”

All of a sudden the independent beams linked and formed a giant single beam of purple light that shot down to the moon. Just as it hit, the ground began to shake. A mess of things behind you fell off of the shelves and clattered to the floor. After several seconds the giant laser stopped firing, the shaking stopping with it.

“Yo! What the hell?! Helios is firing at us?” The guy spoke up, surprise and panic running through his tone.

You couldn’t say anything. Your eyes still wide from what you’d just seen and felt.

You couldn’t see where the beam was hitting. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be near the school.

After everyone was calmed down enough to stop complete panic from ensuing. It was announced that it wasn’t Hyperion that was firing at the moon after all. The space station had been taken over by a rogue ex-Dahl group. Apparently, the situation to stop them was underway. It didn’t help the panic that would rise every time the laser beam struck the moon though. The woman running the attack, Colonel Zarpedon, said that the moon would be destroyed, claiming that it was for the good. That the moon was a small sacrifice.

You couldn’t help being terrified. It was your first year of living on the moon. Hell, it was the first time something like this had ever happened to you. The staggered firing and moon shaking quakes went on for hours. Each one causing you to wonder if it would be the last one to break the moon apart.

Then it just stopped. Another beam never came.

The following days reports told of the man that had stopped the Colonel and taken back control of Helios. A man named Jack. A programmer that had been working for Hyperion. The same man that was overseeing the observation of Pandora. Apparently, he also took over complete control of the Hyperion corporation. You weren’t sure what had happened to the previous head, the news reports didn’t really go into details.

That wasn’t the last you heard of the mysterious man though. Over the next year and remaining months until your graduation, you heard plenty more of the man that was now known as Handsome Jack. Some were awful things, that struck fear into the people of Pandora. From what you heard, he didn’t much care for your home planet. You couldn’t fault him there. You still hated it, and were quite glad that you weren’t there anymore. As for the many other stories you’d heard over time, you also learned that he was a man to fear, a man that the people of Pandora trembled before and loathed for what he’d planned for the planet he’d taken under his control.

•

When graduation time finally came, you were more nervous than ever. With how much you’d learned about Hyperion and Helios since you’d first stepped on to the moon, you were almost scared to work there. You’d learned it had always been cut-throat and difficult to work and live on Helios, but the old president didn’t seem to care as much as this new one did. He was hands on, literally...you’d already heard the stories of his many strangulations, but more so, he didn’t like his employees slacking off or doing something wrong. Not that you blamed him for running a tight ship, but you were terrified of ever meeting the man and being on his bad side.

You’d already applied to work for Hyperion and with how excellent your grades, test scores, and recommendations were - you were immediately accepted. Although, just like everyone else - you’d have to work your way up to the job you wanted.

No matter what you looked up about working for Hyperion on Helios, you’d always come across that name. Handsome Jack. How amazing he was, how fearsome he was, how handsome he was. You weren’t sure if people loved him or were afraid of him. Both, maybe? You weren’t really sold. He was just another corporate asshole to you. One that seemed to think very highly of himself. Although, you couldn’t deny that you held quite a bit of fear of him too, with what all you’d heard he had done.

You stepped on to the platform of the ship that would take you to the massive space station. It loomed over, looking terrifying and like everything you’ve been dreaming of at the same time.  _This was it_. You’d finally made it to the moment in your life that you’d dreamed of, looking up to the sky all those nights you snuck out of Hollowpoint. You were excited and scared. The opportunities were endless, but so were the chances of death. Not just from other co-workers, but from the man you just kept hearing about. You’d be starting low though, people wouldn’t be clawing at you to get your job. That helped put your mind at ease a bit, and come on, what were the chances of you ever meeting  _The Handsome Jack_  anyway? You could do this.

You smiled to yourself as you walked to the shuttle.

 _Helios, here I come_.

•

You realized that it wasn’t the water from the shower trickling down your cheeks. You were crying. It had been so long since you could remember crying last. You’d held everything in these past years. Numbing yourself to all of the pain. Losing Emily was horrible, but losing Helios on top of everything else was just too much. That familiar hole in your chest didn’t seem so much like a hole now. It was a deep canyon, widening with more and more pain.

Remembering how you’d started your new life. Your journey to where you sat now - had cracked the wall you’d built up. Now that crack was crumbling brick by brick at each memory leading up to the fall of everything you loved.

Your eyes stung as each tear formed and quickly fell - instantly being replaced by the next. The pounding in your head was increasing by the seconds. Your breath broke, letting out a ruptured sob you hadn’t realized you were holding in. Another followed. You couldn’t stop them anymore. The tears flooded your vision, the cries rang through the sound of the shower. Years of the pain you’d built up and hid away, was breaking through the dam and drowning you.

This wasn’t the strong, leading woman who ran a corporation and could kill with just a look. This was the old you. The one who let her emotions flow and felt so much all of the time. The girl who could cry, and who did. Not the woman who couldn’t remember what it felt like to feel pain this way anymore. Like a shell cracking off and revealing the broken insides. Cracked and damaged from years of subconscious temporary fixes. So much pain and so many memories shoved away to try and be forgotten. All coming in at full force as the built up wall finally crumbles completely.

•

Your fingers were pruny, your eyes were puffy from the many fallen tears, your head pounded and stung, and your heart ached with the return of un-numbed pain.

The tears and cries had stopped by now. You weren’t sure how long you’d been sitting in the balled up position on the shower floor, but your entire body ached sorely and was begging for you to stretch out.

You shakily made it to your feet. It seemed as every muscle groaned as it was stretched back into a standing position. The water was pretty cool by now, hopefully it would help remove some of the redness from around your eyes and cheeks.

You turned the water off and stepped out - holding on to the wall so that you didn’t slip. On the bench in front of you was some folded clothes.

_Rhys. Oh god...how much had he heard?_

Heknew you as the fearsome woman who ran Helios just as well as Handsome Jack had. Give or take. Not someone who broke down once they were alone.

Oh well. It didn’t matter. You didn’t run Helios anymore. You didn’t even know how long it had been since the crash, or how many had made to Pandora alive.

You grabbed the towel that was next to the clothes and dried off. He was right, the clothes were quite large. The pants didn’t even try to stay up. Luckily, the shirt was large enough that it nearly went down to your knees. Guess that’s how this is going to work for now. Giant shirt, no underwear, no pants. At least your bra was only mildly stained with your blood. It’d have to work for now.

You glanced in the floor length mirror. Your face was quite puffy and still a bit red, your eyes definitely were. No hiding the fact you were crying now. Your wet hair hung around your shoulders, all of your makeup completely sweated or washed away, and a large gash on the top left of your head. That would definitely scar. Yay. Also yay (sarcasm), it was bleeding again. Or still, you weren’t sure.

You looked down further. The giant dark red t-shirt looked rather comical on you. It was probably 4 or 5 sizes too big and had a large ATLAS logo across the front of it.

You smirked at it.

“If only Jack could see me now...” you spoke to your reflection - your smile slowly faded, but remained a bit thinking of what he’d say. For the first time in a long time, it didn’t hurt as badly to think of him openly. It definitely still hurt, but it made you smile thinking of the pissy/funny comment he’d probably make at you being in a different corporations colors. Even if it was a dead corporation, because of him.

_God, you missed him._

Be strong. You can do this.

You turned from the mirror, and your thoughts. Jack wasn’t here. He was  _gone_. However, there was a man somewhere in this facility that knew a lot that you didn’t. Including how you had gotten here. It was time you figured some things out....and got your bleeding wound fixed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of some more backstory ^_^ just wanted to show how Hyperion had basically always called out to her and how much she really cared for it and Helios. 
> 
> Enter Rhys again ^_^ 
> 
> Thanks for all of your love and comments! Keep em’ coming, please! 💛
> 
>  
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr that I recently got back on to. So if that interests you, and you want its link...let me know ^_^


	27. Atlas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is pretty dialog heavy...so sorry about that. It’s definitely not my favorite chapter, it’s a bit boring to me..but oh well.

  With all of the time you spent in Jack’s office, you could probably safely say you had every little detail down to memory by now. Only a few things were really ever changed around from time to time. His collection of “trophies” and little things he’d seized, were one of those things. Occasionally, something new would be added and the other items would be moved around to make room. The small ones, at least. The ones he still liked to look over and see to have a small reminder of how powerful and awesome he is. Not that he really needed a reminder, but still. 

 

You’d looked at the various little objects before - usually while Jack was busy on a call or video-feed. That being what was happening right now, here you were again...looking at Jack’s shelf of weirdly sentimental objects. Nisha’s old hat, Tassiter’s...goatee, a couple of his favorite guns, and a few other random things. One of which, that purposely stuck out from the others by being framed and lit up for any and all to see, was the deed to the Atlas Corporation. 

 

You had still been on Elpis when you’d heard the news of Atlas declaring bankruptcy, and Hyperion buying them out completely. Fortunately, you’d already decided on joining Hyperion’s work force. This had just made that plan even sweeter. Joining a company that showed one of its first major decisions after moving to a new location was to completely buy out another, felt exciting. Plus, you were glad you hadn’t had your heart set on Atlas - with them being taken over now. 

 

 

You felt big hands wrap around your waist and Jack’s face nuzzle into your neck. His soft, styled hair smelled of the sweetest flowers, mixed with the clean, strong sent of his pomade. His lips pressed soft kisses into your skin as his arms tightened around you. His call had ended on a good note, apparently. 

 

You looked back down at the framed deed in your hands. Recalling a time when you’d had the tiniest makings of a plan to run away and work for Atlas. You’d known they wouldn’t hire you at your young age at the time, but you could dream, right? 

“I had planned on working for them, ya know?” You said, smiling at the warmth now encasing you. 

 

You felt Jack’s face shift a bit to see what you were looking at. He grumbled. “Ehh... _ Atlas _ ? Why?” You could practically feel the snarl on his mouth. His lips continued their kisses. 

 

You rolled your eyes with a little chuckle, replacing the deed on to the shelf. “I was going to run away from home and work for them. Probably only as a janitor or something. I don’t know. I didn’t really plan anything out. I just wanted to get away. Then Helios showed up...”

 

His arms squeezed a bit as you felt his lips curl against your skin, a low chuckle coming from his chest. “Mhmm...and you changed your mind, huh babe? Saw how much better Hyperion was.” His kissing had begun to move up your neck slowly, between every couple of words. He loved flaunting how great  his  company was and loved hearing you praise it and him. 

 

“Maybe...” you smiled, letting your head fall back on his chest - opening your neck up to him even more. The way his lips could caress the sensitive skin there was enchanting. Each little kiss placing its own spell on you, undoing you a little more with every one. “I guess you’re right though...” Your voice had started to sink into a low purr, but still a bit playful. 

 

“Mmm...about what?” Jack asked between slow kisses to your neck and jaw, his hands now massaging their way over your body. 

 

“Hyperion being better. ....You are on top, after all...” Your words had started becoming a bit more breathy by now. Thoughts falling away before they were even complete. It didn’t ever take long for Jack’s lips and hands to make you completely weak. One of your hands was now wrapped around the back of his neck, threading your fingers through his hair. 

 

His voice was lower now, dripping with seduction. His fingers glided along and pressed into your clothed skin at perfect places. Like he’d learned every inch of you, and just where you’d come undone for him, but couldn’t resist drawing it out for the pleasure of seeing and feeling you slowly melt against him. “...go on...” his smooth voice purred in your ear, as his teeth nipped at your earlobe. 

 

“About how amazing you are?” You breathily chucked, feeling him bite into your shoulder and begin sucking his mark on to you. “That you’re the king. Sexy...powerful...a phenomenal lover... or about how Atlas didn’t have a chance against you...” your words had become even more breathy - low and purring. Only arousing the heated man pressed against your back even more. One of his hands had wrapped around you, now holding the side of your face. His thumb pressed against your bottom lip, pulling it down a bit. You let your tongue come out and slowly dance up his finger tip. His grip tightened as he let out a low, deep breath. 

 

“God. I love it when you talk that way.” 

He turned you around in his arms, bringing his lips to yours and giving them a small kiss. “I am on top - king of the world, baby!” His smiling lips returned to yours, fully and passionately this time. His tongue flirted against your lips - asking for entrance - which of course was welcomed. Your arms latched around his neck as you were pulled against his strong chest. After a few seconds, he pulled away, looking down at you with those piercing eyes. “...but right now, I want  _ you _ on top.” His lips curved into a delicious smirk. Sexy and wanting. You could already feel his hardened arousal pressed against your stomach. 

 

You licked your lips a little, pulling your bottom lip between your teeth and giving him that seductive smirk you knew would get him going even more. 

You were instantly up in his arms, legs wrapped around his waist, hands in his hair, and lips intertwined with his - as he brought both of you back to his yellow throne. 

 

You may have started out on top and in his lap, which was always enjoyable. To have his hands gripping your back as his warm mouth teased and pleasured your hardened nipples - occasionally pulling you in for a deep kiss as he thrust himself in and nearly out of you. However, ending up bent over his desk, griping the edge of it as he kissed down your entire back, praising every inch of you, and being able to pound into you deeper as his hands gripped you tightly, like he never wanted to let go....was beyond intoxicating. 

 

You’d lost count how many times you’d done some sort of sexual act with  _ The King of Hyperion _ , just in his office alone. He seemed to enjoy taking a break or sometimes multiple breaks during the day to have you in his arms or under him. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he was just as addicted to your lips as you were to his. Sometimes when you’d actually think about it, it still felt so scandalous. Sleeping with your boss,  _ The Handsome Jack _ . Especially in his office - on his desk even. The same desk people would place their very life’s work atop - hoping it would please Jack enough to let them live. You definitely weren’t objecting to the fantastic office sex, though. Even if the two of you were interrupted many times. The knowledge of Jack not being able to resist you until the end of the work day was thrilling. 

 

Nothing Atlas could’ve given you would ever come remotely close to this. Hyperion had given you Jack, and you couldn’t think of anything better than that. 

 

•

 

You draped the large pants over your arm and walked out of the steamy locker room. The hallway’s lights that ran along the floor weren’t too bright when looked at directly, which was good seeing as they were a continuous glowing orange/yellow line that wrapped around the entire wall-line. The bright lights above, however, still hurt your head to glance towards. 

There was only one other door to your right, labeled ‘Men’s Locker/Shower Room’ and then the end of the hall. Well, that made remembering which way to go easier. 

You walked down the hall, passing some closed doors. One labeled ‘Exercise Room’, a maintenance closet, and a few just numbered rooms. There were some metal stairs that spiraled around an elevator in the back of an open area with a couple more hallways going different directions. 

The building itself seemed clean. Cleaner than you’d except an older abandoned Atlas building to be.  _Why wasn’t this place raided already_ ? 

You stopped in the middle of the open area. One hallway went straight from the one you just came from, the other went off to the left, the elevator and stairs being off to the right. By now, you’d already let which way Rhys had led you completely slip your mind. 

 

Straight ahead seemed like a good enough choice. Even if it wasn’t the way back to the room you’d woken up in, it would at least allow you to explore a little. 

The first door on your right was already open and looked to be a fairly decent sized eating area with several tables, attached to a closed off kitchen. Only a few of its lights were on, leaving it dim. A quick break from the hallways bright lights. You leaned in the open doorway to peek in. As expected, it was void of any life as well. 

You walked past the next door labeled ‘Kitchen’, the next two doors at the end of the hall labeled men’s and women’s restrooms, and the two doors on the left reading ‘Men’s Bunk-room’ & ‘Women’s Bunk-room’. Peeking in each, and seeing the people-less contents. 

Apparently this sector was the living area of the facility. 

So where  had  you woken up at? 

You remembered seeing various consoles, screens, and lit up machines of sorts. All of which had been too blurry to really notice at first with how bad your head had been hurting. Thankfully it wasn’t  as  bad right now, but you could definitely still feel it pounding away. 

 Your bare feet softly patted on the cool metal floor as you made your way back up the hallway to the only other way you hadn’t explored yet. 

 

The walls were only numbered, making it difficult to even guess what could be where. You stepped through the first door you came to as it opened automatically to your approach. A few metal desks lined the walls. Each had a rather nice looking computer set up on top. A large screen overlooked the room from the far wall, and the word ‘ _Data_ ’ was painted in large letters on the wall next to the door. Everything was turned off. Only a few little blinking orange lights blipped every now and then from the power banks and adapters. 

You had to admit, even with being older tech now, everything looked pretty damn nice. Classic Atlas. It did spur your interest for a few seconds, wondering how smoothly hacking around on an Atlas system would go. 

 

You decided to continue on your exploration for now. 

The next room held more computers, and few counters with papers on them. Mostly just diagrams for various machines and things. Still, some looked pretty interesting. You flipped through, reading about the various gizmos and weapons. You’d never really looked into Atlas’s products much. They were always out of your reach when you still lived in Hollowpoint, and after leaving Pandora behind and then being bought out by Jack, they were just about nonexistent. 

 

“Pretty cool, huh?” 

The sudden voice behind you caused you to nearly jump out of your skin - sending the papers you’d been holding swooping and flittering down to the floor. You had turned quickly, grabbing the edge of the counter behind you as you nearly slipped on a fallen paper. 

 

Rhys stood in the doorway, casually leaning against the left side. A slight smile rose to his lips, seemingly holding back a laugh. “I’m sorr- *ahem* I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I head noises and came to check it out.” 

 

You glared back. Still calming your heart down from the sudden jump. You glanced down to see the papers all over the floor near your feet and under a couple desks. You let out a slight huff and you knelt down and began gathering them. Striped socks briskly made their way on tiptoes through desks and chairs and stopped next to you. “Here, let me help you...” Rhys knelt down next you and began plucking up a few sheets as well. 

You couldn’t help but glance up to his lack of an arm again. You stood back up, taking the papers from Rhys’s hand so that he could use it to pull himself up from under a desk. Only having one arm must be rather annoying, and challenging. Especially since he had one when you met him the first time...which wasn’t all that long ago. At least not long enough to get used to not having an arm. 

 

You stacked the papers on the counter, giving them a quick tap against its top to align them all before laying them back down. 

Rhys stood, towering over you, with a small smile, that quickly went away. “Oh. Your head is bleeding again. Um, follow me...”

 

He turned and made his way out of the room, with you tagging behind. You passed a couple more closed doors and then you were back inside the room you’d woken up in. 

Rhys motioned for you to sit down on the cot you’d been sleeping on. It squeaked with a delightfully annoying sound as it took on your weight. He picked up the unopened bandage he’d been fiddling with earlier and a bottle of some sort of liquid. 

He walked over and stood right in front of you. You quickly tried to look anywhere else but straight, as his crotch was literally level with your face. He didn’t seem to notice.

 

“This will just take a minute. Oh, and this is  probably going to burn...quite a bit.” He wiggled the small bottle of liquid where you could see it, before setting it down beside you.  “It’s antiseptic.” He assured you, seeming to know that you were wondering.

His hand came under your chin and angled your head up a bit. “....okay. Ready?” 

You nodded back. 

 

He picked the little bottle back up and unscrewed it with his one hand - tilting it down so that it trickled into your wound. 

Instantly, it felt like your head was on fire. It burned so badly. Your eyes squeezed shut, as did your fists around the rim of the cot. “Ow! Shit!” You hissed, as Rhys began to dab around the gash with a damp cloth. 

 

“I know, I’m sorry... this was easier when you were still knocked out. Well, for you at least..” he continued his bandaging while the sting slowly subsided. After a few more seconds he taped the new bandage on and stepped back. “All done.” 

 

You rose your hand up, feeling the newly patched up area. “Thanks...” you said quietly.

 

You glanced back up. Rhys was still staring down at you but quickly looked away and tried to find something else to begin messing with. He really was an awkward, dorky seeming guy. 

You still had things you wanted to know. Now seemed as good of time as any to figure everything out. 

 

You cleared your throat, causing Rhys to glance back over at you and linger as he met your gaze. “How did I get here and how long was I out?” 

 

Rhys glanced down to a chair near him and pulled it over. With a deep exhale, he sat down in front of you - not too close this time though. “After Ja- ...after I woke up, I started making my way back through the wreckage. I planned on coming back here since I didn’t know where else to go. I saw a pod blinking and went closer to see if they’d made it down alive. Once I got closer...I saw  _you_ on the ground near it. You looked like you’d been thrown from the pod, the doors were broken. Your head was bleeding pretty badly...” he seemed to grimace at the memory. “...Anyway, I got you over my shoulder and slowly made my back here. I patched you up as best as I could. You’d lost a lot of blood... I wasn’t sure if you’d ever wake up...” his gaze met yours again. His lips giving a nice, small smile. “You were out for almost two days... I just kept checking on you. You were still breathing, so that was good at least.”

 

Your brows had furrowed a bit. “You only had one arm...and you still decided to carry me all the way back  _here_ ?  _Wherever_ we are...?” He nodded, looking around as if he didn’t know what to say. “..and- and then...take care of me while I was unconscious...even though you didn’t know if I was going to even live or when I’d wake up?” He nodded again, looking a bit confused as to why you were questioning him. 

“Why...?” You asked after a few seconds of silence. 

 

His brows pulled together again. “I wasn’t just going to leave you out there. You would’ve bled to death...or worse.. Do you _know_ what a _skin pizza_ is?”

 

“This is worse...” you mumbled as you looked back down to the floor. 

 

Rhys’s head tilted a bit. “Wha-? Worse? You’re alive though. How could this be-“

 

You looked back up. You could feel the tears threatening to show themselves again. You squeezed your eyes shut, forcing them back. “This?” You motioned around yourself. “I don’t even know  _where _ I’m at. With  _someone _ I don’t know. While my... _home_ ...is crashed against Pandora somewhere out there. Everything and everyone I knew...is gone...” you paused for a moment seeing Rhys’s saddened expression. “So thank you for  _saving_  me....actually, I don’t even know if that’s true...” You paused again, looking back down. Your voice now began showing the defeated sound you had hoped would stay hidden. “I was going to go down with Helios. I was perfectly fine with doing that - but then my  _best friend_ pushed me into an escape pod to save _my_ life instead of her own. Because she didn’t want to see  _me_ die, but I ended up having to watch  _her_ die. Then my pod was hit. I almost wi-... wish...I would’ve died when I crashed. Then I wouldn’t have to feel this way anymore...” Your voice was cracking, making some words difficult to get out. There were too many emotions tangling together now. The feeling of drowning again becoming more and more obvious. 

“I have lost everything... I don’t think I can take losing a single other thing. Not again...  Part of  me  died the day I found out that Jack was dead. The overwhelming feeling of emptiness I’ve felt since that day- The anger, the sadness....the  pain . I forced myself to use that pain to grow stronger. To numb myself to every weakness. I  made  myself become someone better,  someone stronger , that could run a corporation. It was the only thing keeping me going, and now it’s  gone ...” 

You kept your eyes to the floor - knowing that if you looked up, you wouldn’t be able to stop the tears. The feeling of sadness was building, but you could feel your anger rising as well. Anger, from not being able to hold back these emotions anymore - from feeling so weak - from feeling... so ...much. 

 

Rhys stayed quiet. The room’s only sound was a low hum from some of the machines and consoles that were powered on. 

 

“I...” Rhys began, but seemed to pause unsurely. “I may not have had an entire space station under my control...and Helios may not have meant as much to me as it did to you...but it was still  _my_ home too... I’m sorry you lost your best friend... I...don’t even know where mine is. If he’s alive...or...” he paused again, longer this time. 

 

You decided to speak up, standing as you did. Rhys watched as you stepped past him, looking at the various glowing lights on the consoles and power blocks. “I’m sorry about your friend. I appreciate that you saved me... I just- ...I’m sorry for not being someone who wanted to be saved...” 

Rhys didn’t respond immediately - just watched you from the distance you’d put between the two of you. 

You looked back to him, meeting his gaze. “Once my head is a bit better I’ll go-“

 

“Go where?” Rhys stepped closer - his voice raised slightly. “Do you have  anywhere  to go? Do you know what it’s like out there? Have you even been to Pandora before?!” 

 

Your brows knitted and you turned to face him. “I’m _from_ Pandora, you idiot. I know exactly what all is out there.” You snapped a little, not exactly meaning to, but it did seem to cool him. 

 

Rhys’s brows pulled apart, raising a bit. His shoulders slumped back down to their normal position. “Oh...” he just stared back for a beat. “I... I didn’t know you where from here... Di- did Jack know...?” 

 

You glanced back down. “Yes. He knew. Why do you ask...?” You looked back to him with slight confusion with your question. 

 

He shrugged slightly. “Well...because he hated this place, and seemingly everyone from here...” 

 

You scoffed a little, rolling your eyes. You remembered the day you’d met Jack, and when he confirmed for himself that you were indeed Pandoran. “Yeah...well, he wasn’t too thrilled about it at first. He got over it though..” you sat down on a short, rolling stool that had been tucked away under a desk. 

 

Rhys stayed quiet for a few moments. His gaze was also now aimed at the floor. “So...you’re from here...” he seemed be thinking of something. You just weren’t sure what it could be. 

 

“Yep. Grew up in Hollowpoint and-“

 

Rhys seemed to come to life, stepping closer again, eyes widened a bit. “I’ve been there! Not too long ago, actually! Do- do you have family there? We could-“

 

You shook your head, stopping his line of thought. “I  _did _ have family there. They died last year.”

 

“Oh...” Rhys’s entire demeanor changed. He looked like he wanted to shrink away and pretend he hadn’t just brought up your dead family. “I’m...um, I’m sorry..”

 

You shrugged. “Eh, don’t be. I’m the one who killed them. Well ,I hired the hit on them. I hadn’t exactly planned on ever stepping foot on this shitty planet again. Now I kind of wish I would’ve waited. Would been much more satisfying to kill ‘em myself.” 

 

Rhys’s eyes widened again, his mouth falling open slightly. “....o-oh..”

 

You glanced back up him, chuckling a little at his expression of shock. 

“They deserved worse. Trust me. They were assholes.” 

 

Rhys nodded slightly, allowing a bit of a forced smile to appear on his lips. His eyes slowly returning to normal size. “Oh...” he looked back down at the ground, shaking his head a bit. 

 

“What...?” You asked, still watching him. 

 

He let out a half chuckle, smiling a little but seeming to not be sure why he found this humorous at all. “It’s...it’s just...I always heard rumors about you. About how much like him you were... I guess since I’d never really met either of you before... I never knew if it was true...but- but I can see it now...” he chuckled again, still shaking his head as he turned to throw the first-aid wrapping and trash into the bin. 

 

Your brow furrowed a bit. “What are you talking about...?” You asked. 

 

Rhys turned back to you. One of his brows cocked slightly. “Jack? When you said that... about killing your parents...it sounded like something he would’ve said. Even the  _way_ you said it...” he shrugged, smiling lightly. 

 

You just stared back blankly for a moment, before glancing back to your lap. You swiveled around on the stool, the slightest smile making its way on to your lips. “Oh...” you simply said, letting the tiny blossom of warmth run through you. “I didn’t know people said that about me...” 

 

Rhys just nodded. After a few silent moments he cleared his throat and spoke up again. “Are...are you hungry? There’s some fruit in cold storage. Plenty of it. Not much else though...”

 

You felt your stomach rumble at the mentioning of food. It had been a couple days since you’d eaten last. Even if it was just some fruit, it was better than nothing. 

You glanced back up and met his gaze - giving him a slight nod. 

 

•

 

The two of you ended up back in the kitchen you’d seen earlier. Rhys had gotten a few different fruits out for the both of you. Some you’d never even seen before. You were a little hesitant on eating something that had been frozen for so long for one, and two- them being bizarre fruits from Pandora. Apparently grown by Atlas themselves, from what Rhys explained. Hunger did win out though, and much to your surprise - they tasted fantastic and still fresh. 

 

Rhys also informed you on how he and his recently aquatinted friends had come across this place. That it was under ground, even now that Rhys had hidden it again so that the two of you would be safe from everything Pandoran. That did put you a little more at ease. At least you wouldn’t be attacked by bandits out of the blue. 

 

You could tell Rhys was trying to make you feel more comfortable. Not that it was working all that much. It was still only your first day of being awake since your entire life had crashed down to Pandora’s surface. You knew it would take a long time to feel even slightly normal again. If only you could even remember what feeling normal felt like. Then again, what would normal be now? You’d have to completely start all over. 

 

•

 

You lied awake on the squeaky cot. It was just about completely dark in this area of the facility. A few blinking orange and yellow lights would still catch your eye every once in awhile. You found yourself unconsciously counting the seconds between their blips. 

 

Rhys was in a different room - presumably sleeping - you weren’t really sure. It was still a bit odd to you to be in such close proximity to someone you didn’t know at all. He seemed to know much more about you. From hearing rumors around Helios for years, and learning things from Jack while he had him flickering around in his cybernetics. It was difficult to remember what that felt like. Knowing so much about someone just because they were so often talked about. At first, you’d only known what you’d heard rumored about Jack. As much of it was true, there was so much that didn’t even come close to the reality of  _Handsome Jack._  You wondered what all Rhys had learned about you that wasn’t exactly true. You shook away the thoughts. It didn’t really matter, right? You wouldn’t be here too much longer. 

 

Your head still hurt, but it was settling as more of a dull ache now. You couldn’t wrap your mind around this Rhys guy. He’d stolen your money and vault key -fake or not- ,crashed Helios, and killed off the only remaining part of Jack you could’ve had. Yet he’d saved you from Helios’s rubble, and helped you stay alive. You wanted to hate him. Hell, part of you still wanted to kill him. You kept thinking back on what he’d said. All the things he’d gone through the last few weeks. His friend was gone, his home was gone, and his hero...was no longer his hero. 

The way he’d looked when he said that he hadn’t  _wanted_ to get rid of Jack. You could tell he wasn’t lying. Helios had been his home too, and now he was just as lost as you were. You wanted to hate him completely, but part of you didn’t. You decided you wouldn’t kill him, but you weren’t planning on staying either. He was a constant reminder of a life ripped away. 

 

Once your head was healed - you’d be out of here. 

 

•

 

Nearly two weeks had gone by. Your head only hurt when you’d press on the wound itself now or accidentally bump it. It had finally scabbed over - thankfully not having to be bandaged twice a day anymore. A process you’d begun doing yourself to keep distance between you and Rhys. 

 

Some days you’d hardly see him. He was always tinkering away in the room you’d taken to calling  _his room_ , even though it was a tech lab. It’s where he slept, on his own old cot, and even ate at most times. 

 

By now, you’d gone through a few different giant Atlas shirts. Luckily, this place did have a laundry area. However, with how ripped and blood stained your own clothes were, you had just decided to throw them away. You’d also managed to find some men’s briefs that fit you better as very short, loose shorts - after thoroughly washing them several times, just to be safe. It was better than walking around in just a huge t-shirt and having nothing on under, on your nether regions. 

 

After sitting -alone- in the kitchen, reading and looking at more of Atlas’s documents and blueprints while you nibbled at some fruit, you decided to finally peek in on Rhys and see what he had been messing with for the past week. 

 

He had kept his door open, telling you that you were welcome to come in any time, but you’d pretty much just avoided that end of the hallway entirely.

You rounded the doorframe and leaned in a little. Rhys’s back was to you as he was bent over a tall table in the back of the room. A few screens near him were lit up with various diagrams and schematics showing on them. His left arm was in front of him, working on something you couldn’t see. He was still wearing his half pin-stripped pants, albeit washed now, and a form fitting, long sleeved, dark red shirt. The Atlas logo going vertically down one side of it - front and back. It showed off his figure a bit more than his previous attire had. You could tell there wasn’t much fat, if any, on him at all. You could see the slightest movement of his back muscles as he fiddled away with whatever was before him. His right sleeve was knotted up about half way up, and just kind of dangling there with no arm to be around. 

 

You knocked on the metal frame of the door. Rhys spun around, seemingly surprised at seeing you. A small smile appeared in his lips. “Hey” he said giving you a tiny wave. 

 

Your eyes flicked down to the motion, catching hints of blue on his arm, as he pushed his sleeve back up. You stepped into the room, and walked closer to him. “You have other tattoos?” You asked, now seeing the large amount of blue design covering his forearm. 

 

He turned his arm over and back, giving a small chuckle. “Oh. Yeah, got ‘em in college...” 

 

“That’s quite a bit of coverage...” you chuckled. 

 

A slight smirk rose on his lips. Different from the usual shy ones you’d been seeing. He gave a half chuckle. “Yeah, well... You’d be surprised..” 

 

You rose your eyebrow questioningly, but decided to not pursue that line of conversation. “So...what are you working on?” It was then you noticed his eye. His left eye. It was glowing golden. It was no longer an empty  echoeye. “Woah! Wha- your eye! You fixed it?!” 

 

His smile rose fully now as he nodded. “I was planning on showing you once I was all finished...but...” he stepped to the side, allowing you to see what lied on the table. A shining chrome robotic arm. Nearly identical to the one you’d seen him wear in your office, besides the coloring, of course. 

 

“You... made a new arm..?” You asked, rather confused at just how he could’ve done that. 

 

“Yeah! I scanned my old arm with some of Atlas’s old digistructing tech. Took it apart to get all of the wiring out and I’ve been slowly getting it all put into this new one. If I had better materials and tools I’d be able to make a better one, but this should work...and it beats not having an arm at all.” He shrugged, giving you a little bounce of his eyebrows. 

 

“And the eye...?” You asked, still a bit surprised at this guys robotic skill. 

 

“About the same, really. Just took more tweaking and programming.” He offered with another shrug, as if it wasn’t all that difficult to do. 

 

“Oh...well... that’s pretty impressive, actually...you’ve been busy, it seems.” you added on, still looking down at the arm and its wires popping out from its shoulder connection. 

 

He smiled back, looking proud of himself for impressing you. “Well, I’m almost finished. Care to help me lock it in once it’s all ready?” 

 

You looked back up and met his gaze. That golden eye was a bit hard to look away from, it added a bit of interest to him. Something...almost attractive? No...just interesting. “Sure. Just let me know...” you went to turn and leave, but stopped. “Um...how long until it’s finished? My head feels fine now, and I was probably going to leave soon-”

 

“What?” Rhys’s voice had raised, taking on a higher pitch. “Where are you going to go?” 

 

“I’ll go to Opportunity. Get access to Hyperion systems from there and-“

 

“Opportunity is days away, and that’s by actual travel...not walking. Even if you did make it to a station, you’d have no way to buy access. All of Helios’s systems are down. Which is what all of your money was fed through. Trust me...I’ve already tried getting in.”

 

He’s right. You knew that. If anything was to ever happen to Helios - it’s entire system was programmed to lockdown and shut off completely until Jack himself overrid the command. Well, good luck having that happen now. 

 

“You could stay...” Rhys spoke up, quietly. 

 

Your eyes snapped back to his. Brows furrowed. “Stay? Here? Why would I-“

 

He stepped forward, spreading his arms as he spoke. “I’m going to rebuild Atlas.”

 

“Rebuil- How? Atlas is in Jacks name. He had the deed in his-“

 

“This one?” Rhys turned back around, producing the framed deed from under some other things on the table. 

 

Your hands immediately went out, taking the deed from his hands. “Wha- How did you get this...? You stole it?” You looked back up to him. 

 

“Figured since he tried to kill me, it was decent payment. So now Atlas belongs to me.” His tone was firm. Stronger than you’d been hearing him speak. A little bass went a ways for this guy. It’s not like it really mattered. As far as it seemed right now, Hyperion was in no state to even be considered “ still in the game .” Part of you was instantly intrigued. To see if this guy could really build Atlas back up. 

“...and, I want you to help me.”

 

“What?” It was your voice’s turn to go high pitched. 

 

“You ran alongside two Presidents of Hyperion and became one yourself. You know the right and wrong ways to run a company. I could use your help in remaking Atlas. You’d be safe, you’d have somewhere to stay, food to eat-“

 

“Look. It’s a nice offer...” you interrupted, cutting Rhys off before he could attempt to keep going. “...but I... I don’t think-“ You let out a sigh. “I’m Hyperion through and through. I loved Helios. I loved working for Hyperion, and I lov- ...cared a lot for Jack... I can’t-“

 

“They’re gone now. You know that.” His eyes were now held on yours. You could be part of something new... No one telling you what to do. We’d be partners. After we get it going, if you still want to leave...then okay...but you can’t leave now... You won’t make it out there with nothing...” 

 

You looked back to the floor. Thoughts buzzing around and crashing into each other. True, you didn’t want to go and brave the wilds of Pandora, but staying? Rebuilding Atlas? Maybe it wasn’t that bad of an idea...but part of you couldn’t just let go of Hyperion...and that was the part holding you back. He said you could leave later if you still wanted to. It wasn’t like he was forcing you to stay, he just wants you to be able to leave safely. 

You looked back up to meet his gaze. 

“Why do you care what happens to me?” 

 

His gaze instantly fell. “I- I don’t know... I just...” he shrugged. “...I don’t want to let you walk out of here, knowing all of the bad things that could happen to you. I know that if you stayed with me- stayed here...that you’d be safe.” 

 

You stayed silent for a while - considering his offer. You really should take some more time to decide on this. Maybe turning him down outright wasn’t the correct way to go, but jumping into this didn’t sit well with you either.

”Let me think about it. I’ll give you my answer soon...”

Rhys nodded back, rubbing at the side of his tattooed neck. “Alright...fair enough.”

 

•

 

It’d been two days. Just about every possible scenario had been through your thoughts at least once. You could always try and find whatever Hyperion base would likely take over operations, but you didn’t even know where to start looking. Technically, since Jack’s body was never found, he was still the sole owner and President. Your name was only down as a stand in, and you were probably presumably dead by now. Maybe you should leave that life behind. Starting something new would at least be a great distraction from the chaos your life had become the last month. Atlas had always interested you, even if only a little. Their tech was pretty impressive. Even Jack had thought so. Plus, Rhys had at least become a known face. You wouldn’t know a single person on this planet if you tried to go somewhere else. If the two of you were able to get Atlas back on its metaphorical feet, the assured profit of a returning praised company would be nice too. 

For right now, the pros definitely outweighed the cons. What did you have to lose? If it didn’t work, you’d be no worse off than you are now...but if it did, life would be different, better even. Something new. Everything you’d loved and worked for was gone now. Something new was what you needed. 

•

You stepped into Rhys’s room as he was soldering some wires into the arm. 

 

“Okay...I’ll do it.” 

 

“Wha-..?” He continued with his tinkering.

Rhys dropped the tool he was holding and spun around - seeming to realize what you were talking about. His widened eyes sprang to yours. “Rea- really? You’ll stay? You’ll help rebuild Atlas?” 

 

You nodded back. You weren’t sure how this was going to turn out, but he was right. You’d be safe here. Plus, maybe being partners with the new CEO of The Atlas corporation would bring something good along for a change. 

It couldn’t really be worse than it was now, right? 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had planned on this one being out sooner, but I ended up getting sick this last week >_< Gotta love colds, right? 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for being patient!  
> Leave me some love! 💛 🐰


	28. The Beginning Of A New Normal

“Okay...now hold here...and click that in riiiiight...there...”

 

“Like this?” *click*

 

“Uh...yes! Just a couple more. One second...let me grab this um...this...um...thingy...” Rhys’s tone trailed off as he twisted around as best he could to rummage through the scattered tools on top of the table the two of you sat next to.

 

“Thingy..? So is that the technical name, or your personal spin on it?” You chucked to yourself. “Do you need help finding-“

 

Rhys let out a sigh. “Just...here just hold the arm while I look...”

Rhys stood, letting you take the weight of the arm that was currently half attached to his body. Having the difference in height, the awkward angle of a half dangling limb, and the suddenness of ‘ _here, hold my arm_ ’ as he stood - caused your slight panicked expression and annoyed grunt to be justified.

 

“Um... Rhys?” -Nothing- “this is...heavy, and awkward. How about I find the...” You let out another slightly strained grunt, shifting your feet to a better position than the one you’d sprung up to, to catch the heavy metal appendage. Half of your body was pressed against Rhys’s long legs, holding the full weight of the arm and trying to not snap any of the fragile wires that were already connected in place to his body. Meanwhile, he was bent over the table picking through the numerous tools, spare wires, loose screws, and screwdrivers that ranged from size of a spaghetti noodle to nearly as big around as your arm. Those weren’t on the table, however. Even you knew you wouldn’t be needing anything that big to work on re-attaching this arm.

He seemed to not be noticing your strains for the most part as he continued his determined search.

 

“Rhyyyyys-“ You grumbled, leaning around him to visually search the tables contents.

 

“Hold on a sec...I’ll find it. I saw it earlier. It’s...a tiny little...thingy...” he mumbled back.

 

You exaggerated your eye roll aimed at him. “Thingy...” You mumbled to yourself.

 

“Ah ha! Found it!” He just about shouted as he turned back a little quicker than you’d expected. Your grip on the arm held, as did your grip on _him_ as you nearly fell over completely at the sudden fear of dropping the arm. “Uh... you okay?” He asked, looking down at you clutching the arm against his body with your other arm wrapped around his waist so that you didn’t fall over your tripped up feet.

 

“Take. Your. Arm.” You demanded, muffled, due to your face being squished into his abdomen.

 

You felt his ribs bounce with a chuckle as he grabbed his metal arm and took the weight from you. “Guess I’m just used to the weight.” He chuckled again as you pushed yourself off of him and stood, glaring. “Oh, don’t give me _that_ look. It was funny.” He smiled down at you.

 

“It wouldn’t have been funny if I dropped the damn thing and it broke. Now would it?” You placed your hands on your hips, adding just the right amount of sass.

 

His smirk and raised brow continued to look amused. “Well, it’s good that you didn’t drop it then.”

 

You only growled back, still glaring. “Was that your way of getting me to fall all over you?”

 

He chucked, sitting back down on the stool. “Uhhh, no. If I was going to try something like that, I wouldn’t put my brand new arm in the middle of it.”

 

“Ah. Well... Good.” You grumbled, taking your seat again.

Rhys glanced back to you with his pesky little smirk, you narrowed your eyes in return earning another chuckle from him.

 

He motioned with a “ _pleaseeee_?” expression and a slightly puckered bottom lip as he looked between you and his metal arm.

You rolled your eyes again and picked it back up to the correct height the wires needed to be at to re-attach. Rhys fidgeted around inside of his socket with the small ‘ _thingy_ ’ tool, attaching a chip and then clicking it into place. For the most part, your job was to hold the arm in the right place and adjust the holder that the mirror was attached to so that Rhys could see where he needed to. Adjusting the mirror was pretty much a no-brainer. Move it up a little, or down, maybe to the left a bit - whenever Rhys requested. Holding the heavy arm and not letting it droop while he attached everything was a little more difficult. It wasn’t necessarily all that heavy, but after holding it up for awhile, it seemed to keep packing on more weight. Luckily, with your knees pulled up on the stool, you could hold the bottom part of the arm with your legs and keep the balancing and positioning to your hands. That seemed to work well enough, even if it did mean showing off more leg and thigh than you figured was “ _work appropriate_.” Plus, watching Rhys blush and getting to listen to him stutter around his sentences anytime you showed more skin than usual was definitely always humorous. You still didn’t have pants that would actually fit you, after all. Something you’d just about gotten used to by now. You weren’t really ever one to wear full length pants anyway. At least you could safely say that if Rhys somehow found you attractive like this - no makeup, hair usually just brushed and never styled or just up in a ponytail, and in a big baggy t-shirt that was long enough to be a short dress - then he was definitely less shallow than half of the men you’d met in your lifetime. It had only been a few weeks, but you definitely couldn’t wait until you could buy some new clothes and makeup. You missed looking less.... _Pandoran_.

 

“Okay. That should....just about...do it! There!” Rhys exclaimed with a smile as he began wiggling the fingers on his new metal hand.

 

You’d been so off in thought that you hadn’t even realized he’d just about finished re-attaching everything. You watched with a small smile as he moved the arm and hand all around each way to make sure it was all right. He definitely seemed quite happy to have the appendage back. His golden eye glowing and scanning over it to to make sure nothing was bending wrong or grinding against something it shouldn’t be.

 

“All good?” You asked, still looking up at him while he was lost in excitement.

 

“Yep! Just need to run some tests, but everything seems to be moving alright - so that’s a good sign.” He smiled, meeting your gaze. “Thank you again. I wouldn’t have been able to get it back on without help.”

 

You shrugged, nodding your head with a plainly polite ‘you’re welcome’ smile. “I’m going to go keep reading those documents and seeing if I can get into the old systems.” You called out as you left the room, giving a little finger wave behind you.

 

•

 

You’d been working on hacking into Atlas’s locked down systems. It hadn’t worked yet, but you felt like you were getting close. Without the right finger prints, retinas, and DNA to actually gain access - hacking in was the only way now. Rhys had tried, but there was only so much he could do without his arm. Plus, this was what you were good at. It’d been far too long since you’d _had_ to hack into something for more than just fun. Running Helios had dropped your need for hacking just about completely. Everything was easily obtainable by just stating who you were. So having to hack into Atlas didn’t really seem all that much like work, it was definitely more on the fun side. Challenging, but still fun.

 

You’d also been going over documents and blueprints you’d been finding. The ones that weren’t locked away in the computer systems. Rhys was going to have to come up with some prototypes if he wanted this company to go anywhere soon.

 

•

 

With really nothing other than what the previous, now dead, employees of this Atlas building had left behind - you and Rhys had finally come to the decision to go and check out the crash for more supplies or anything useful. Bandits would probably...definitely be a problem. There was a very slim chance that they hadn’t moved into the wreckage to plunder any Hyperion goodies that they could get their hands on.

You could shoot, that wasn’t the worrisome part. There were even some old Atlas guns still in the facility’s small shooting range. Getting Rhys to not freak out at the idea of going up against some bandits, however...wasn’t easy.

There was only so much ammo stocked up. More than enough for a single trip to Helios, but trying to show Rhys the proper ways to shoot was going to take a bit of that ammo.

 

“Relax. You’re not going to be able to move quickly if you’re so stiff. Feet apart a bit more...like this. Both hands... Make sure your safety is off.”

 

“I...I take it Jack taught you how to shoot?” Rhys asked, keeping the stance you’d put him in and not moving a muscle. Telling him to relax was useless. He had all the grace of a wet noodle.

 

You adjusted his arms... _again_ , and glanced up to him. “Good guess. Why do you ask?”

 

He shrugged, loosing any form you’d _just_ readjusted. You sighed internally. “When we were on the road, Sasha was getting some lessons from Athena- ..err, two of the people I was with...”

 

“I know of Athena.” You added.

 

“You do?” Rhys’s brows raised.

 

You tilted your head impatiently. “Continue...”

 

“Oh, right. Um...anyway, Athena was showing her some better ways to shoot... Jack kept commenting on how bad Sasha’s form was. I just recognized that yours matched what he showed me... Not that I ever used it... I had a stun baton...” he shrugged again, looking off at nothing - seemingly off in his memories.

 

“A stun baton...?” You asked. Brows raised unamused.

 

“Ye-yeah... I lived on Helios. I had never actually used a gun before... finger guns, but...” he trailed off.

 

You let out a sigh. You hadn’t forgotten what life on Helios was like when you weren’t at one of the highest rungs of the ladder. No one was allowed to carry a weapon unless you were security...or Jack. You’d only been able to carry one once you took Hudson’s place.

 

You missed that pistol. Best model Hyperion had ever made. A gift, from Jack. Now lost under the rubble of Helios...or in some bandits dirty hands. Out of the two, you hoped it was the first.

 

“Well, that’s what we’re here to learn. We can’t go to the crash if you don’t know how to protect yourself. Even on the off chance that there aren’t many there...it would still be in your best interest to learn.” You paused for a moment, looking down at the Atlas gun in your hands. You raised it up, aiming at the paper target. You could see Rhys watching from your peripheral. “...sorry to say, but...” you shot three times, nailing the head with each shot. “...you won’t be able to live on Pandora and not take a life eventually.”

Rhys’s widened eyes glanced between you, the smoking gun, and the very dead paper man for a few seconds. Eventually he nodded and got back into the stance you’d shown him - as best as he could, at least.

 

•

 

It took a couple of days, but Rhys seemed well enough to handle a gun.

You’d both strapped some old bags on to your backs and dressed in the darkest clothes you could find. You ended up cutting some pants to be a bit shorter and tying them around your waist with the leftover fabric. It definitely wasn’t going to last, but it would work well enough for the trip. Shoes were a problem though, there were definitely none that would fit you just lying around. After some tinkering around, you’d managed to make some work, out of a pair of tennis shoes that had some socks shoved into the toe. You walked a little clumsier, but they’d protect against the terrain.

 

You left through a tunnel that led up to the surface and exited through a drainage cover. You’d both decided that it would be best to leave at night. For multiple reasons.

Rhys had a pretty good idea of where the crash was and took the lead. Which was good, because you had absolutely no idea where you were. Most of the time you’d spent on Pandora was in the highlands. The only decent part of the planet that you’d seen so far.

You’d definitely never expected to be _living_ on Pandora again - if you could even call this living, it was just surviving at this point.

 

The trek there was long, but easy enough. Luckily, you hadn’t run into any gangs of bandits or skag packs.

 

Once over a hill, you could see the broken tops of Helios in the moonlight. It’s bent and breaking metal sides, and shattered glass. A ghost of a once thriving space station, now in its final resting place. It brought on a sadness that your eyes just couldn’t seem to look away from. Your feet stopped as did most of your other motor functions. You stood at the top of the hill, staring at your old home...in ruins. A single tear slid down your cheek as your eyes scanned over the distant wreckage. You weren’t sure what you had imagined you’d see, but this wasn’t it. This hurt so much more deeply than you’d expected it would.

 

Rhys had kept walking, but seemed to notice your lack of footfalls. He stopped a few feet in front and turned back. Before you even noticed he had walked back to you - you felt his hands turn you away from the sight.

You looked up into his mismatched eyes. Tears brimming on the edge of yours. He bent down to be closer to your eye level. His hands held on to your shoulders.

 

“I’m sorry...” he whispered - his eyes mirroring his remorse. “I can take you back...you don’t have to do this...”

 

Another tear slipped and fell down your cheek. You noticed Rhys’s eyes follow it. His hand slowly rose up to cup your cheek - his thumb ran down the wet streak, wiping away the freshly fallen droplet. You let your eyes fall closed. The image of Helios now burned into your mind - showing through the darkness behind your lids. He let his hand linger there for a moment before pulling it away and standing up straight.

 

You reopened your eyes and took in a deep breath, letting it back out slowly. “No. I had to see it eventually...let’s just...let’s just keep going...” you were trying to sound strong, to convince Rhys _and_ yourself that you _could_ do this, but the shakiness of your voice once again betrayed you. From the look on Rhys’s face, you hadn’t fooled him either.

 

Words weren’t going to work right now, that much was obvious. You turned back towards Helios. Again, the pain stung as your eyes fell upon it’s wrecked hull. You forced your feet to keep going until you both reached a spot to survey for any enemies. You were still quite far away from the main structure of Helios, but there was wreckage thrown around far from the crash. That was what the two of you were planning on searching. It was just too risky to try and go to the actual station. Bandits had surely moved in by now. It _had_ been a few weeks, after all, and it was assured that everyone on Pandora saw, heard, or felt the impact.

Looking out from a well enough hidden spot, you both watched silently. There wasn’t any movement around this area. Sure enough, you could see people further out - a campfire or two. Luckily, no where close to where you both currently knelt. You’d have to be careful though, one loud noise and you’d be outed.

Hurting over the sight of Helios was pushed to the back of your thoughts for now. You needed to focus on getting down the ledge and into the wreckage without being seen or heard. Rhys was surprisingly calm, or at least he looked it.

 

You both slowly inched down the ledge wall, step by quiet step. You decided to go first. With Rhys not being too keen on heights, he’d go much slower than you. He tried reassuring you that he’d be “ _fiiiiiiine_ ”, but the small whimpers you heard from behind you as he slowly descended proved that otherwise.

You finally got to the bottom, and watched as Rhys followed - slowly scooting down as he tried his best not to look towards the ground. You could hear him quietly reassuring himself with “ _I’m fine - I can do this_. _Baby steps_..”

Eventually, he made it down to join you.

 

“See? Piece of cake.” He smiled with his hands resting in his hips. His breathing returning to normal now that he was _safely_ on the ground.

 

“Uh huh...” you rolled your eyes and began tiptoeing towards the intended area of wreckage.

 

•

 

You searched for what felt like hours. Maybe it had been, you weren’t really sure without looking at your watch. Each thing you picked up and set down had to be done so slowly and meticulously as to not make any noise. You’d found a couple guns, and ammo. Plenty of broken consoles, machines, and things so broken you didn’t know what they had been. The smell of rot was definitely noticeable, drifting through the air. You tried not to think about all of the people who had surely died on the way down and on impact. Luckily, you didn’t see any bodies - something you were quite relieved about. You figured most had already been taken off by the wildlife.

You kept searching the area as Rhys searched around another close wreckage site. You’d agreed to meet back at the survey area you’d stopped at earlier. Using your echoband to signal him when you were heading back, and him with an old echo device he’d found in the Atlas building. You considered you both lucky that both devices still worked, and that your echoband had even made it though your pod crash.

This seemed to be a residential part of Helios. You’d found beds, dressers, tables, and various other furniture and appliances. Good thing that most everything on Helios was metal. A lot was bent or broken apart beyond repair, but you could still tell what a lot of it was. You stuffed various clothing items into your bag, along with anything else you could find in the still intact containers that were scattered about. It definitely wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

Eventually, after coming back full circle to where you’d started looking, you messaged Rhys to let him know you were finished. You waited for a moment.

 

No reply.

_Shit_.

 

You strapped your stuffed bag on your back and began quickly making your way to where you’d seen him wonder off to. Once you made it there, you sent another message.

 

Nothing.

 

You didn’t want to call out - even whisper out. It was too risky. Then you heard it. A gunshot.

 

_No_...

 

You went into overdrive. Climbing over the metal debris and going as quickly as you could towards the direction the sound had come from. It wasn’t smart. If someone had shot something, either they weren’t friendly or they just drew a whole lot of attention your way.

You couldn’t just turn and run though. You had to at least make sure it wasn’t Rhys.

 

_What if it was Rhys, though?_ _What will you do then?_

“I don’t know right now.” You whispered to yourself as you kept going.

Where was he? Why had he gone so far?

 

You heard footfalls. Someone walking. _Closer_. You quickly ducked behind a large piece of metal. Readying your gun in front of you.

Closer - getting louder. The sand and ground crunching beneath their feet. Your heart was pounding. It had been so long since you’d done anything like this, but this time - Jack wasn’t here to have your back. To perfectly and effortlessly kill whoever was getting closer. Your breath held as you could hear them right on the other side, still coming closer. You could only hear one set of feet. You could do this.

 

You took in a silent deep breath. This was it.

You sprang from your spot, gun aimed and ready!

 

You nearly choked on your quick inhale, and dropped your gun so that you didn’t fire.

 

“Rhys!?” You quietly shrieked, seeing a blood-covered Rhys standing with his hands up and eyes nearly wide enough to fall out of his head.

 

“We need to go. Now. Bandit. Shot him. I-“

He managed to get out parts of a sentence. Still very obviously in shock.

 

You nodded, quickly picking up your gun and leading the way out of the wreckage. You could hear commotion further behind you. People were coming now. The gunshot had indeed drawn attention.

 

It took getting back up the ledge and sprinting through the sands as far as you could go with your sides and legs aching, before you finally slowed down enough to catch your breath. Rhys nearly fell to the ground next to you, panting and sucking in air.

 

“Wha-....what happened...back there?” You panted out, still trying to breath and quell the feeling of fire in your lungs. It’d been a long time since you’d ran like that. Actually, you couldn’t remember _ever_ running like that.

 

“I- I... I was searching through things...putting things I found in my bag...” he took a second to breath in and out a few times. “...I heard footsteps, and turned around to see a gun aimed at me. Some...big- _huge_ guy standing over me... He grabbed me...tried taking my arm... said something about it being shiny and pretty... I just- I just grabbed my gun and shot him... it was _so_ loud... his head- it-...” he looked down at his clothes now. He was quite covered in blood. “Oh... _oh_... he’s all over me...” he began gagging a bit, leaning over and losing whatever fruit he’d eaten earlier.

 

You looked away. Feeling a tad nauseous yourself now. You took another deep breath and swallowed.

 

“It’s alright, Rhys. He would’ve killed you... you did well...” you breathed out, leaning over your knees. “Lets...let’s head back and wash up... See what all we got..”

 

He nodded, wiping his mouth and following as you continued walking.

 

•

 

After Rhys showered and threw away his blood covered clothes - you both went through what you’d found. Thankfully, Rhys had grabbed his bag after killing that guy.

 

It wasn’t much in the line of supplies, a few guns, more ammo, some clothes, a couple echo devices that he figured he could fix up, and some scrap wires. You both had already figured anything really worth taking would already be gone or at least further inside Helios’s main structure. That was a no go, though. The bandit that had snuck up on Rhys was thankfully alone at the time, but the rest of his buddies probably weren’t far off.

 

You were just glad to have found some clothes that were closer to your size.

No more scavenging trips. You both figured you’d be fine with what you had for now. You were kind of glad - you didn’t really ever want to see Helios like that again.

 

•

 

Rhys ended up finding some names and contacts for some investors and shareholders. Through digital communication, and some hacking on your part - they were extremely interested as soon as they heard the title _Atlas_. You just had to have something to show them before they’d bite. Now that Rhys had his arm back, he’d be able to get started on what he wanted for this endeavor.

 

It had been about two months since the crash. The two of you were living off of fruit, non-perishables, and thankfully had filtered water to drink. It definitely wasn’t life on Helios, but you knew it could be much worse.

 

Rhys was nice enough. He had a way of lightening the mood and trying to make you laugh when he could tell you were tense. It backfired on him sometimes when you were in a particularly annoyed mood, but it never stopped him from trying again later. He also liked to hear stories about what it was like at the top of Helios. What it had been like to work for the _real_ Jack.

At first, you’d told him that topic was off limits. You didn’t want to talk or think about it. Although, you’d started to catch yourself thinking about those times more often than you had in a long awhile. The feeling that came along with the memories was odd. It hurt, of course...but you had begun to feel that familiar slight flutter in your stomach. You’d catch yourself smiling at recalling the memories of your old life, the times before Jack’s death.

 

•

 

_The mouth watering smell of food being prepared drifted through the penthouse-apartment as you lounged on Jack’s incredibly cozy couch. Echo in hand, you were scrolling through the latest galactic news. The usual Pandoran bandits taking over this and that, the vacation headlines that shouted for you to come visit them, and the various ‘feel good’ articles like a family of baby skag pups being adopted after their mother was killed - or other similar stories. Your eyes had lingered on the travel adds of the Edens, though._

_The nights of staying in and eating Jack’s wonderful cooking were always some of the best. The man had a way with flavors, and since he could afford any exotic spice from any planet, there was never an end to what he could serve up._

_You felt the cushion dip down a bit next to you as you felt Jack lean down and place a kiss to your bare shoulder - peeking at what you were reading. “Vacation, huh?” He hummed, leaning back up and sitting on the edge of the couch next to you. “Somewhere more tropical would be nice. I mean, the Edens are pretty, but...”_

_You shrugged and turned over to your side to give him more room. “Eh...I don’t know. It’d be nice to go somewhere new. I like the look of the Edens...trees and lakes. Maybe I’ll ask my boss for a week off so I can go to one.” You smiled, looking up at his raised brow._

_He shook his head, stretching his arms above his it. “Nah. I don’t think he’ll let you go...at least not by yourself.”_

_“Well, hes_ **_far_ ** _too busy to just drop everything and leave for a week. I can always take his body double...no one will bother me then...” You smiled playfully, waiting for the look you knew you’d get from that remark._

_Sure enough. Jack’s eyes narrowed. His lips tugged into a slight smirk. “Mhmm.” He rolled his eyes, looking away from you now._

_You let out a small giggle, poking at his side playfully. “Aw, don’t want me to go on vacation with your look-alike?” Your voice teasing and sing-songy. “Still worried I’d fall for his dorkiness and handsome face?”_

_Jack looked back to you, his eyes still narrowed. The slight smirk still there though, to let you know he wasn’t actually mad. “Why do you think I’ve kept him away from you? He_ **_always_ ** _asks about you. Little shit.” Jack’s eyes rolled again as he shook his head. “And that’s_ **_MY_ ** _handsome face.” He pointed to himself, stressing the word my as he met your gaze again._

_You couldn’t help but laugh. To think this man could be jealous of anything let alone his own doppelgänger was hilarious. No matter how many times you’d laughed this off, reassuring him that he had nothing to worry about - each time Timothy was brought up, Jack would get even more possessive. Some may say that wasn’t a good trait to have, but you absolutely loved that Jack was being possessive over you. It showed he wanted you, and wanted you to be all his. It was probably why you’d always tease him with the subject. Just to see that look in his eyes, hear how his tone would change instantly, or how much tighter he’d hold on to you if you were in his arms. Yep, you loved it._

_You finished laughing and rolled your eyes. “Yet again, you have nothing to worry about.” You scooted closer, placing a kiss on his cheek before looking into those wonderful mismatched eyes._

_“Mhmm...” he smirked as he got back up to return to the kitchen._

 

 

 

“Did you get in?” Rhys’s voice from behind you pulled you out of your memories, startling you a bit. He smiled, leaning on the doorframe to the room. “Sorry..” he added on, noticing your startled expression.

 

You took in a deep breath and shook your head. “No, not yet. I was...off in thought, I guess...” you brushed your hair out of your face and stretched your neck a little.

 

“Anything good?” He asked, taking a seat on a stool near you.

 

“At the time it was. Now it’s just...a memory.” You shrugged, looking back at the locked screen in front of you.

 

“What was he really like?”

 

You turned your head to look at Rhys. He was watching you, eyebrows raised and seemingly waiting for your answer. You almost asked who he was referring to, but you just as quickly figured you already knew. “You had him in your head for weeks. Shouldn’t you already know?”

 

He chuckled, rubbing at the side of his neck. “I mean... I know about his murderous tendencies, that he was kind of an asshole, and everything everyone else already knows...but you must have seen a different side of him. I saw how much softer he got the moment we walked into your office on Helios...the whole time he was in my head, I never saw him act like that.”

 

Thinking back on how Jack had been right in front of you and you hadn’t known was...weird. Granted, it wasn’t the real Jack...you knew that, but still.

You smiled a little. “He _was_ a murderous asshole.” You let out a small chuckle. “...but he did have a softer side that not many people saw. He was passionate about things he cared about, and he was an extremely hard worker. He loved Hyperion, and he always made sure she was running well. He may not have cared much for the majority of people, but that’s only because of how many times people let him down...” You paused for a moment. “..I don’t know what he saw in me...but whatever it was, I’m glad he did. ...I just wish he wouldn’t have been so adamant on opening that damn vault.”

 

The room fell silent for a few minutes. The two of you off in your own thoughts.

 

Rhys cleared his throat. “Thank you... for telling me. I know you don’t like to talk about him...”

 

You kept your eyes on the screen, and nodded back. “Yeah... I’m.. I’m going to keep trying to unlock this now.”

 

Rhys left you alone to continue your hacking. Something you were glad of...right? You didn’t _need_ company....but, were you growing to want it? No. You were good on your own. Yeah. Thoughts on hacking, that’s what you needed to do right now.

 

•

 

A couple more days had gone by. You’d been staring at that damn screen for what felt like weeks. Rhys had popped in a few times to ask if you wanted to take a break and eat something. You turned him down each time, resulting in him bringing some food to you instead. Sometimes he wouldn’t say anything, just set the food down next to you on the desk and give you a little smile.

 

_He does have a nice smile..._

_Woah. No. Just forget that thought EVER popped up. Just...continue hacking._

Sometimes he’d try and start up conversation. Usually earning a sideways glance from you, reminding him that you were busy trying to hack into _his_ new company’s old systems.

He’d leave again, letting you continue trying to hack into them. You weren’t even sure what all he was getting up to in the other areas of the building - then again, it didn’t really matter.

 

•

 

You let out a high pitched squeal as you sprang from your seat, doing a little happy dance. Almost instantly, Rhys appeared in the doorway, breathing heavily.

 

“What!? What happened? Are you okay?!” He asked, quickly looking around the room before settling his gaze on you, just standing now.

 

“Did you... _run_ in here?” You asked, brow raised questioningly.

 

He took in a deep breath before letting it back out. “I...are you okay? You squealed..?”

 

“Oh...” a smile rose to your cheeks. “I got in!”

 

His eyes widened. “In-in? You got into the system?!”

 

You nodded quickly, still smiling.

 

Rhys’s arms sprang up as he lurched forward - grabbing you up in them and spinning around before setting you back down. “Oh my god, yes!! -Um....sorry... I...I just got excited..” he said looking down at your rather surprised expression. He took a step back and cleared his throat. “Um...want to show me?”

 

“As long as you don’t do.... _that_ again, then sure.” You said still looking at him, before turning back to the screen and taking your seat.

 

“Right. Can do. Or- err...not do.” He sat down next to you and peered at the screen as well.

 

•

 

After finally being able to completely go through the old Atlas systems, Rhys having an arm and eye again, and you just about having every document and blueprint you’d found so far down to memory - the two of you had spent the last several weeks coming up with some prototypes. Rhys had a few gun ideas finished already, and was in process of making some other gadgets. Things were actually going well now.

 

The investors loved the gun ideas and were sold on them immediately after Rhys presented them. You’d decided to stay out of the limelight this time. This was Rhys’s dream, after all...not exactly yours.

 

With the money that came from the first line of prototypes, the two of you ordered new clothes, better food, and of course better materials to get started on more projects. As of right now, Atlas had a couple of investors...but it was no where near ready to launch yet. It was still only you and Rhys, after all. Employees would come later, much later...unless some miracle happened.

 

•

 

It had been almost six months since Helios’s downfall. The feeling of never knowing what normal would feel like again, had gone by now. Working on coming up with new ideas, presenting those ideas, selling shares, doing business, and slowly building up the first metaphorical support beams of the new Atlas - had become your new normal. It was a project you were growing into, you wanted to see it succeed.

Even though you wouldn’t admit it, Rhys had started to grow on you. His goofy personality and little quirks had grown to become something that made each day at the very least, entertaining. He’d started teaching you the ins and outs of wiring things, taking them apart and putting them back together. He’d apparently hobbied around with robotics and cybernetics during college and throughout his Hyperion career. The two of you also began having mini competitions on who could out hack the other. You of course had won 37 times, with Rhys winning exactly 8 times. A _definitely_ high number that he always seemed proud of.

You’d also slowly grown to talk about your past more. Surprisingly, it seemed to make you feel better talking about all of the fun and sometimes scary things you’d experienced with Jack. Rhys ate up every story like a kid listening to old tales. He’d never view Jack like he had at one point in life, his hero had died the day he’d had to rip him out of his cybernetics. Just another unfortunate memory in the pile that the two of you had accumulated.

 

You’d catch him looking at you out of the corner of your eye, smiling to himself at something only he knew. You’d usually pretend to not notice. Even though it was hilarious to look over at him and catch him admiring, and then watch him scramble to look like he wasn’t - tripping over his words and sometimes his own feet.

He’d come into a quiet room that you were reading or working in and loudly ask you the beginning of some random joke. Usually laughing before he could even finish the rest of it. Depending on your what response was, would merit him even more laughingly giving you the answer or pouting when you guessed correctly.

He talked about missing his best friend, Vaughn pretty often. He’d tell you stories of things the two of them had gotten into in their college days and how they’d gone to work for Hyperion together. Stories about how shitty and difficult it had been to work up the corporate ladder. Always being picked on by someone a little further up. You both had equally funny stories to share about the man you had mutually disliked, Hugo Vasquez. You learned more about how Hugo had died, not that you were too surprised that someone had shot him basically just to shut him up. He’d always annoyed you with how much he liked to ramble on. Rhys even talked about his old ex-girlfriend named Stacy and how she was absolutely crazy. Justifying the adjective with stories of said craziness.

You talked about life on Elpis leading to your own rise though Hyperion. Meeting Jack, and growing closer to him. Then Hudson and how his suicide wasn’t actually very suicidal, thanks to you.

Rhys had laughed. Saying that he’d heard rumors that you’d been the one to kill Hudson, but no one ever really knew if it was true or not. He wasn’t upset by it, it had helped him move up just a bit more. Whole lot of good that had done in the long run though. Then again, he wouldn’t have Atlas right now if he wouldn’t have been demoted to Janitor in the first place. He figured he couldn’t complain much anymore.

 

No, you wouldn’t admit it.

Rhys _definitely_ wasn’t slowly growing on you.

 

•

 

 

About six and half months after the crash, Rhys had been quite surprised to hear from one of the con-women he’d met on Pandora during the vault key deal. Not by voice, of course. She’d sent a message through ECHO. She’d asked to meet, and clear things up. She’d apparently learned that he’d made it off of Helios and was staying in the old Atlas facility. It all struck you as being a bit odd. How had she found out about him being at the facility? Maybe she’d sent someone out to look. Either way, Rhys had decided he’d meet up with her. He figured that maybe she still had Gortys and was going to open the vault. You tried talking him out of going - something just seemed off about it all, but he’d made up his mind.

 

You’d agreed to watch over Atlas while he was gone. Not that there was much to look after, but still. He’d only be gone a few days, maybe a week.

You couldn’t stop your mind from wandering back to worrisome thoughts. Another person you’d started to grow closer to - running off to find and open a vault.

 

One of these days, you’d open one of these damn vaults for yourself to see if they really were worth all of the loss they seem to intertwine with.

 

•

 

“Don’t worry,” Rhys smiled, almost too happily at your hesitation to him leaving on this odd whim. “I’ll be back soon, and if I’m not..well...then Atlas is yours.”

 

“ _Mine_?” You choked out. “Atlas is _yours_... I don’t-... You _will_ come back.” The ‘ _right_?’ was unspoken, but you felt like you both knew what you’d really meant.

 

He had to come back. You couldn’t re-build Atlas alone.

 

You kept your next thoughts to yourself.

 

“ _I really don’t want to lose another person_...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry this took a couple more days than usual to get posted. I was a tad busy getting to meet The Handsome Jack himself, Dameon Clarke! 😍 it was so cool! Along with the voice actors of Maya, (new) Claptrap, Gaige, and Tyreen! I might post the picture I got with Dameon on my Tumblr, haven’t decided yet 🤔😊 
> 
> Anyway, here’s a new chapter. It’s kind of all over the place (I think) but oh well. I hope you like it! 
> 
> Let me know what ya think!  
> As always, thank you for the kudos and comments! I lovvvve reading them! 💛


	29. Rain

It was definitely quieter with Rhys being gone. He’d messaged to let you know he’d made it to the meeting spot, but that was the last you’d heard in a couple days. He didn’t really have that great of signal that far out anyway. You figured that was a main factor in why you hadn’t heard from him.

 You decided to keep busy by continuing to scan over everything in the Atlas database. Things just weren’t moving along as smoothly as you’d hoped they would. Without a proper production facility, you couldn’t make the prototypes and things you needed to  _wow_  over investors, and without the investors - there wasn’t enough of a steady income. Not enough money, meant things were almost at a stand still right now.

It’d been a little over half a year that you’d been staying here with Rhys. Trying to get Atlas back on its feet. With the two prototypes you’d already gotten backed, things had started to look up. However, those things had now leveled out. The other old Atlas facilities on Pandora were all ransacked and taken over by bandits years ago. There’d be no trying to move into one of those, and unfortunately, this facility had mainly been built for the Gortys Project. Not weapon manufacturing.

 

You and Rhys had been delving into research about old Atlas buildings. That’s how you came to find out that none would be even close to easy to get control of. Sure, if you had an army to take the bandits out, and then another entire different type of crew to fix the place up and clean literally everything that had bandit blood or other bodily fluids on it from years of them inhabiting it. Even if you wanted to do that, you couldn’t afford it yet. So basically, a no go on finding a better place.

 

A part of you kept hoping that  _if_ Fiona had contacted Rhys to help open the vault - that whatever he found in there (if he didn’t die) was valuable enough to help with rebuilding Atlas in a considerable way. Granted, you weren’t leaning on that idea much.

_Why would a con-artist invite someone else along to share the riches of a vault? Unless....unless she needed him to help open it, but planned on killing him when she didn’t need him anymore_...

You shook that thought from your mind. From what Rhys had told you about the sisters, they didn’t seem like the killing type. Hell, they seemed quite amateur in your eyes...for con-artists. Then again, living on Helios for so many years may have raised your bar for con-artistry.

 

•

 

It had been a long night. You’d stayed up, scrolling and sifting through the database for hours. Writing down little notes, sketching out some ideas, and taking extra notes on flaws in some of the ideas you’d found.

Basically, you’d begun to catch yourself worrying. It had been three days since you’d heard from Rhys. So scrolling through page after page of code, blueprints, documents, and plans - had become something to keep your mind busy.

You’d decided to finally call it a night, or day...you really weren’t sure anymore with living underground and such. Either way, you’d been up for far too long, and your eyes were burning and begging for you to rest them. You slipped into bed after a quick shower. Lying there for a bit, just staring up at the ceiling. Your eyes were growing heavier by the second - finally closing and letting you drift off.

 

•

 

You sat at a long metal table. The yellow H! emblem of Hyperion painted on under the glass that sat atop it. Several chairs sat pushed in around the table. You glanced down to see some papers laid out in front of you. You’d been writing something, but as of now - your pen was just being lazily held in your hand as if you’d drifted off in thought. You didn’t even know what you’d been writing.

No one was in here though, and with this being the board meeting room - surely someone would be in soon. That’s what your mind was telling you at least. You scooted the papers together into a orderly stack and slipped them into your folder. You’d finish writing whatever it was later.

Now...where is-

 

The double doors to the room swung open, making you jump quite a bit.

 

“Meeting’s canceled, babe. I didn’t feel like dealing with that bullshit today.” Jack smirked, as he sauntered around the table towards you.

 

“ _Ah. There is he is_.” You thought to yourself, smiling at the warm feeling you immediately felt at seeing him.

He came to a stop next to you, sitting down on the edge of the table. His hand came up and brushed your hair behind your ear. You leaned into his touch. Why did he always feel  _so_  nice?

 

“Canceled-canceled or just postponed?” You asked, gathering up your things and standing. Just about eye level with Jack now.

 

His smirk grew a little as his hands rose up to the items in your arms. He took each item and placed it behind him on the table. “Doesn’t matter. We’re all alone in here now, kitten.” His hands slowly caressed their way from your thighs up to your waist, pulling you between his spread legs. His expression dripped with seduction. The slight raise of one eyebrow, a sultry smirk that he knew you couldn’t resist for long, and those eyes of his. Heavy lidded, green and blue enchanting gems staring back at you. His hand rose up to your chin, pulling you in, pressing his lips to yours and instantly deepening the kiss. Your hands rose as well, holding on to him, and threading your fingers through his hair. His other hand was holding you against him, keeping you right where he wanted you. Exactly where you wanted to be.

 

You could get drunk off of the intoxicating taste of his kisses. The purely lustful thoughts that the feeling of his tongue would cause, and the way his hands felt, grabbing and caressing your body and face.

 

You felt dizzy even now.

 

Jack stood, keeping his lips to yours as much as he could as he lifted you up and on to the table. He eased you down, leaning over you as you could feel the cool glass through your blouse. His kiss had become more passionate, now moving down your neck as he moved your legs apart to position himself between them. One of his hands ran up the length of your thigh, sending shivers through your body. You could feel his thumb grazing over your underwear as his mouth sucked a mark onto that soft spot between neck and shoulder. A spot he knew drove you wild. Just as he released your marked skin from his mouth and leaned up to peer into your eyes, that sultry smirk returned to his lips. You felt your underwear shift, and his finger began to rub over your moistening slit. Slowly, and ever so teasingly, he’d push just the tip of his finger in to feel you tense up under him. He loved knowing how much you wanted him at any given time - drawing out little moans and whispers of “ _Jack...please_...”

 

“You want me, Princess? You want my fingers inside of you?” He purred, running his tongue over the sensitive skin of your neck. You could breath in his intoxicating smell from this position, activating your conditioned response to it.

 

“Yes...” You breathily moaned out, still feeling his fingers teasing you.

 

His finger slipped in - rubbing up against the soft walls, bringing out a deep inhale from you, as you bit down on your bottom lip. He pulled it out, and slowly replaced it with two. Your eyes rolled back and closed as he began rubbing against that spot that felt  _so so_  good. His pace quickened, drawing out your little whimpers and moans. His lips found their way back to yours, giving you a deep kiss before moving back down your neck. His fingers deeply explored and pleasured your sensitive walls, as his thumb rubbed against your swollen and throbbing button.

You could feel your climax already building. His expert fingers playing you like a wonderful piece of music. As soon as his free hand wrapped around the side of your neck he wasn’t branding with his lips - you lost all control. Your climax burst through you as you moaned out his name. Your walls squeezed around his big fingers - increasing the pleasure, while his grip tightened slightly on his other hand. Pure blissful, lustful, wonderful, entrancing ecstasy.

 

His fingers pulled away as you slowly came back down. His lips pressing against yours again, giving you a passionate but soft kiss.

 

“I’ll be back, Pumpkin...” he whispered in your ear.

Instantly, an awful feeling landed in your chest. Your heart felt like it dropped through your abdominal cavity and landed in your stomach.

You opened your eyes to see lava everywhere. You were no longer lying on a table, but kneeling on warm rock. The air was hot and heavy, feeling like it was nearly choking the life out of you. Statues of strange creatures looming over...lava pouring out of them.

 

_No...not again_...

 

You’d seen this place many times in your nightmares, but only once in real life. From a picture. A picture that was sent to Hudson, from the Hyperion group that was ordered to retrieve Jack’s body from the vault. You’d found it among his messages and nearly scrolled past it, until your eyes had caught the caption.

 

VAULT OF THE WARRIOR

 

The vault Jack had told you about so many times. The vault he’d given so much for. The vault he’d  _died_ in.

Now, haunted your dreams.

 

Tears slid down your cheeks as you looked out to the fiery hell you’d seen so many times now. Always the same. Exactly the way it was in the picture.

 

_“Please_...  _please wake up... I don’t want to see- not again_...” you begged your mind to wake up, but just as every time before...you couldn’t control this part.

 

Your head slowly began to turn, you wanted to squeeze your eyes shut. To not have to see what you knew you’d see next to you - but you couldn’t. No matter how hard you always tried. You couldn’t close your eyes. You couldn’t move your hands in front of them, and you couldn’t stop your head from turning to your left. Every time.

 

Your head continued to slowly turn, your gaze drifting down as it did. Your eyes finally falling on the form next to you. Lifeless eyes stared off into nothing. A blood covered body, lie beaten and shot. An unmasked face, baring the same symbol as the stone one in front of you, showing no expression.

 

Each time was the same. Your heart felt as if it had stopped beating entirely. Your breath hitched in your lungs. Your eyes, unable to close or look away, blurring as tears repeatedly fell. Even your sobs were silent here.

Each time, you’d reach out to touch him...your hand moving so slowly, but just as you’re about to-

 

You sprang up in your bed. Chest pounding and cheeks soaked with tears that had fallen while you slept. You breathing heavy as your wide eyes began conforming to the darkness. You pulled your pillow into your arms, squeezing it as you buried your face into it.

Every time... Why did you have to see him like that? Every. Time.

 

It was only one of the many nightmares that plagued your nights. However, this one was much older than some of the newer ones. The ones of Helios falling, and the sight of Helios’s crashed hull against the sands of Pandora.

You’d thought that maybe this nightmare was gone. You hadn’t had it in months. Yet, here it was again. Just as painful as every other time. The dream before it wasn’t ever the same. Except for one thing. A single sentence.

“ _I’ll be back, Pumpkin_.”

Then the dream would immediately change into the lava filled nightmare - and no matter what, you’d look next to you and see Jack. Dead.

 

You didn’t know why. His body was never found. It  _wasn’t_  in the picture. It was the  _only_  thing that was different. So  _why_  did you have to see it?

 

You never could fall back asleep after having that dream- that nightmare. It always took too long to get the image out of your head. This night was no different.

 

You wandered the halls of the empty and quiet facility until you eventually arrived at the spherical room that had been used to put Gortys together. You sat down on the docked platform - letting your feet dangle over the edge, just as you had done many times before. The artificial stars always seemed to calm you. You missed looking out at the real ones - looking out at Elpis. Sometimes you’d spend what seemed like hours in this room. Imagining you were back up in the stars again.

Pandora would never feel like home.

 

You let yourself calm down before you decided to go back to the screens of seemingly endless data. More reading and note taking to keep your mind off of everything.

 

•

 

You were startled awake as your echoband began chiming. You nearly fell off of the stool you’d been sitting on. The bright screen still on and glowing in front of you. Your back ached from being slumped over the desk.

 

You cleared your throat and answered the call.

 

“Hello..?” Your voice was still not quite awake. You glanced down to look at who was calling. “Rhys?! You’re alive!”

 

He let out a small laugh. “Yeah, I’m a bit surprised of that myself, actually. It’s been an odd few days. * _static_ * -I don’t have a lot of time, but I wanted to check in. I should be back in a couple days. We’re- * _static_ * the vault- * _static_ * and then I’ll be back!”

 

“The vault? You’re opening the vault? Now?! I can’t hear you all that well-...” you spoke back, your voice more awake now, but just as shaky. Although you figured that wasn’t from just waking up. A vault. So they were going for the vault, after all.

You heard the static muffle of whatever Rhys attempted to say next and then the call ended completely.

 

That didn’t  _exactly_  help your worries. He was alive though, so that part was good to know. However, if they hadn’t opened the vault yet - and that’s what it sounded like - then maybe the worst part was yet to come. He sounded alright though, even excited. Maybe they had a plan. You just hoped it would work. Vault monsters were still not very well known.

 

You stretched your arms up and gave your back a nice stretch as well. You must’ve dozed off while looking through the database. You glanced back to the screen and shut it off. It probably needed a break as well.

 

A short stroll to the kitchen and into the wonderful closet of  _super delicious_ preserved food. You let out a small grumble as you sifted through the small packages. You were beyond tired of eating fruit and weird preserved food. You were glad it was available, of course, but definitely tired of it by now.

 

You chose one and warmed it up. Plopping down at one of the tables on the other side of the room, you began to eat your mushy breakfast.

 

At one point in life, you’d dreamed of being adventurous. Not necessarily vault hunting, but still being out there and doing dangerous things. However, once you’d been taken back down to Pandora and got a better look at what the planet was really like outside of your big ole’ cave - you’d realized you would’ve died instantly if you’d have tried to take up adventuring instead of running away to Elpis. You didn’t regret it. You’d always enjoyed the corporate life. Sure, it was almost as dangerous sometimes with how many people would stick the closest thing they had to a weapon in you, just to move up a little themselves. That hadn’t ever been a real problem for you. You’d been so low on the scale of things for much of your career that things like that just didn’t happen as much.

 

You let out a sigh. Pushing around your mush with a fork, while your thoughts wandered from here to there. With Rhys not here to babble away about random things, your mind didn’t have too much to focus on while you sat alone to eat. You  _kind of_  missed him.

 

You really missed your corporate life. You missed Emily. You missed being on Pandora  _with_  Jack.

You always felt safe with him. Even if you were being shot at by bandits or stalked by some form of wildlife. The knowledge that you weren’t stuck down here - that when you were ready, you could just travel back to Helios and continue your usual day to day activities.

 

•

 

“ _You ever seen rain?” Jack asked, looking at something on his holographic screen. He sat, leaned back in his yellow throne. Cool and casual, with one arm stretched out to tap through whatever he was looking at. His other propped up on his armrest - his hand lightly holding his chin. His expression was so serious, but not with his angry-serious expression. He was calm, working on business, and going over things for the company. He always looked so handsome this way. Ruling over his kingdom. Focused, with his pouty lips and piercing eyes._

_Those same eyes flashed over to yours and you realized you’d just been staring off at him instead of answering his question. “_ Shit. What was his question.. _?” You thought to yourself. You cleared your throat._

_“Um...I’m sorry. What?” You asked, trying to rack your brain for what he’d said._

_He rolled his eyes with a small smirk rising on his lips, and chucked a little. “Look Cupcake, I know I’m irresistible and goddam good looking, but I didn’t think you_   ** _still_ **_got lost staring at me.”_

_You rolled your eyes back at him, not being able to conceal the smile that your lips now wore._

_“You still turn red when I catch you..” he was smiling, his eyes settled completely on you. Softly now._

_You looked down to your lap, trying to make yourself stop smiling...and apparently blushing. It wasn’t working. You looked back up - his eyes still fixed on you. His soft smile still there as well._

_“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe I just didn’t hear you.” You shrugged sassily._

_He let out a small bark of laughter. “It’s in your eyes, sweetheart. It always has been. They tell me everything I wanna know.”_

_His purring voice wasn’t helping. Those damn wonderfully piercing eyes combined with his alluring smirk._

_Even after over a year of working for him, amongst_ other things,  _he could still melt you down with just a look. All this time, your eyes were the things betraying you - giving you away, and here you thought it was just the blushing._

_You held your gaze, locked with his for a few seconds - until he cocked his brow, giving you that devious look he could do so well. Your eyes flickered back down to your lap, your smile still not leaving you in peace. You took in a deep breath, shaking your head a bit at the shyness this man could still pull out of you._

_“Okay. Moving on.” You looked back up to meet his gaze again. Actively trying to ignore how smug and proud of himself he looked at the moment. “What was your question?” You asked._

_He leaned his head back, letting his eyes close as he continued to smile to himself. “I asked, if you’ve ever seen rain before?” His eyes reopened and fell on you again._

_You thought back. You couldn’t remember ever seeing it when you had lived on Pandora. It definitely didn’t rain near HollowPoint that you’d ever seen. “Does it still rain on Pandora...?” You asked, basically answering his question with just that._

_He chuckled a tiny bit and shrugged. “Only in certain places. Dry season and whatnot. More like dry decades.” He chucked again. “Friggin shitty planet. Anyway...you_ want _to?” He asked, leaning forward now._

 

“ _See rain? How...?” You asked, giving him a quizzical look, and motioning towards the vast expanse of_ ** _space_** _outside of the massive window._

_He only smiled back and stood. He nodded over with his head. “Come on.” He said as he began walking down the steps from his desk to the double doors._

_You followed behind, still a bit confused as to what he had up his sleeve. You’d asked what was happening a couple times, with just him replying “you’ll see.” He stayed quiet from the time you both fast traveled to the travel bay, in his private shuttle, the short trip down to Opportunity, and the small drive out to the Highlands bridge._

_He looked at the time and then up towards the sky. You glanced up as well. The sky was darker than it usually was for this time of day. Clouds covered much of the it. Some were quite dark. You’d seen these types of skies in pictures. Storms clouds. It was going to rain!_

_You began smiling as the realization hit. He’d brought you down here to see rain, because you’d never seen it before._

_“How did you know it was going to rain here today?” You asked, shifting in your seat to face him._

_“Eh, it popped up in my news feed. I figured you’d never seen it before. Ya know, being from this dry shithole of a planet.” He smirked as glanced over to you and then back out of the windshield._

_“So...you stopped working to bring me down here?” You couldn’t help but smile. Your butterflies were already fluttering around happily._

_He kept his smirk and just shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s my company, Princess._ _I can take a break whenever I want.”_

_A low rumble startled you a bit. Jack looked over, bringing his hand to your thigh and rubbing it with his thumb. “It’s alright. It’s just thunder. Only a sound.”_

_You nodded back, shifting your eyes back out to the darkening clouds. You’d heard of thunder, and seen vids of storms from other planets - but actually being in one was definitely going to be a first._

_Droplets began lightly appearing on the glass, then grew a bit heavier. You could hear them hit the windshield and spatter, forming new little droplets. Before you knew it, the entire windshield was covered in little water bubbles, rolling down and forming streaks with other drops. Another low rumble made your heart speed up. You kind of liked the sound. The mix of hearing the rain hit the glass of the windshield and the occasional low rumble of the thunder, was wonderfully exciting and calming all at once._

_You were smiling to yourself, focused on watching the drops hit the glass. Not even noticing Jack’s eyes on you. You glanced over to him,_ now _seeing. He was softly smiling again, just watching you be awestruck by the rain outside._

_“Come on.” He said as turned and opened his door and slid out._

_Your eyes widened. “What?! Out there? In the rain?!” He couldn’t hear you. You knew that. His door was already closed. You swallowed the lump that had just grown in your throat. Your door opened with Jack now standing there with his hand out for you to take._

_“Come on, pumpkin. It’s just water.” He chuckled, waiting for you to take his hand. The rain was getting the inside of the door wet - you couldn’t just sit here and ponder if you really wanted to get out or not. Jack was out there though, it had to be okay. Then again, he did enjoy dangerous things._

_His fingers wiggled, still held out for you to take. You reached out, grabbing his hand. Probably a bit tighter than you’d meant to, but you weren’t so sure about this rain stuff. Was Pandoran rain even safe to be in? You had no idea. It’s not like you’d ever done research on rain before. You lived on a damn space station!_

_He pulled you out of the car, still keeping your hand. Then again, you were holding on pretty tightly. He pushed the door closed behind you with his other hand and started taking a couple steps backwards - pulling you with him. Your feet were a bit hesitant at first, but feeling the cool drops hit you was actually pretty nice. You looked up into the sky and could see the streaks of rain falling around in the grey/blue backdrop._

_You let out a little giggle. This was amazing! Something so minute in the scale of things - something you’d never seen or felt before, was absolutely wonderful. You were completely drenched now - your clothing sticking to you and your heels squeaking with wetness. You kicked them off and began tapping your toes around in the little puddles forming on the concrete. You looked up to Jack, giggling and smiling. He seemed pretty amused at watching your reaction to the rain. His styled hair now brushed back from his fingers being ran through, a small strand or two falling over his forehead in places, and his clothes just a soaked as yours._

_He pulled you over to him and wrapped his free hand around your waist, still holding your hand with the other. He began swaying the two of you back and forth, slowly turning._

_It’d been awhile since you’d just danced with him. He was wonderfully light on his feet, knowing just how to move. He pulled you closer, dipping you down and then back up. You could feel the rain falling against your skin, and the puddles splashing around your toes. You glanced up into his mismatched eyes, an absolutely perfect sight. He stopped swaying, moving his hand under your chin and tilting your head up. His lips pressed against yours as he moved his free hand to pull you against him. You wrapped your arms around his neck as he stood, lifting your feet off of the ground. Your legs wrapped around his waist as your lips kept their place on his. He separated the kiss, and looked into your eyes with a small smirk._

_“So... what’dya think, sweetheart?” He asked spinning the two of you around in the rain._

_The grip of your arms and legs tightened as he spun. You couldn’t help but giggle with pure happiness at this moment. You wanted to tell him that you were absolutely in love with everything happening right now. That this was perfect - that yet again, he’d introduced you to something you immediately fell in love with. That you loved the rain...and him._

_“I love it” You smiled - leaving that last part about him out, again._

_His smirk stayed. His eyes just peering into yours through the rain drops. The low rumbles still echoing around the two of you, as he held you. Both of you completely drenched and standing in the middle of a bridge...in the rain._

_•_

Rain. Another thing you missed. You’d only seen it that one time, but you really had fallen in love with the sound and feeling. After you’d been kidnapped sometime after that, you’d never gone back down to Pandora with Jack. You didn’t know when it would be raining again, either. Plus, the Highlands were no where near this area.

 

You looked down at the mush you’d been absentmindedly still pushing around with your fork. It was probably cool by now - making it even less appetizing. Still, you knew you shouldn’t just waste it. You finished it up, drinking it down with lots of water.

 

A couple more days of solitary life.

 

•

 

The next couple of days passed like the last few had. Staring at the screen, writing down notes, daydreaming, nibbling on fruit, and dozing off after not sleeping well. It was almost mind numbing how monotonous each day was.

 

It’d been three more days since you’d gotten the call from Rhys. He still wasn’t back. Your eyes kept popping over to your echoband to see if it had a notification. It never did.

 

After a shower and a snack, you decided to look over some of the old blueprints for weapons that never made it to production. There had to be something useful on them. Thankfully you had plenty of coffee to drink, and countless blueprints to look at.

 

After a couple hours you looked out over the mess of blueprints placed all over the floor around you. You’d sectioned them out in rows of varying types, while you sat in the very middle.

Your mind kept telling you that if something had happened to Rhys, that whether you really wanted to or not - taking Atlas into your own hands was probably your best bet at surviving. That meant you would need to come up some ideas as well. You dreaded the thought. Not the work, but just being all alone again. Not knowing anyone. Having to completely start anew. Again.

 

Maybe you should try and sleep. You knew that wouldn’t work though, especially after drinking the coffee. Your eyes just wouldn’t stay open for long, but each time you’d let them close - your brain would just keep going. You decided to take a break and go scrounge through the medicine cabinet. Good thing those old Atlas employees had to live down here for decent lengths of time or this place probably wouldn’t have been so well stocked.

 

You picked through drug after drug. Cold medicines, allergy meds, and finally landing on some that read: MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS.

 

“Ah ha!” You opened the bottle and shook a couple of the pills out. “Couldn’t hurt to try.” You carried them with you to the kitchen and swallowed them down with some water. Then back to the blueprints for now. If these pills did miraculously work, then you’d just head to bed once you got drowsy.

 

•

 

Your eyes were growing beyond tired of looking at prints, diagrams, and numbers. That’s all you’d done this entire week to stay busy. You checked your echoband again. Nothing.

 

You let out a sigh and leaned over on the floor. Unsurprisingly, lying on blueprints, on a cold metal floor was not comfortable by any means. Getting up and heading to your bed would probably be much more cozy, but you just couldn’t convince your body to stand. You stared off into the now sideways room. Your tired eyes began drifting again. If only you’d been able to actually sleep longer than a hour or two at a time. The more tired you got, the more acceptable the floor became. Not before long, your eyes drifted shut and stayed that way.

 

•

 

_Is....is someone calling my name?_ Your unconscious brain began barely registering the sounds outside of your dream.

 

_Wake up! Wake up!_

“(Y/n)! Wake up!” Your eyes finally fluttered partially open, realizing you weren’t dreaming anymore. Someone _was_ calling your name.

 

“Rhys...?” You mumbled, still very groggy. Unusually groggy, in fact. You were still lying on the cold floor, but your upper half was in Rhys’s lap - with his arms around you. He looked...worried...but alive! He was alive! “You’re alive...” you mumbled again, trying to sit up. Ugh. Your entire body ached horribly. How long had you been curled up on floor? You glanced down at your echoband, giving it a little shake to illuminate its screen. Your brow furrowed. Hours. You’d been asleep for _several_ hours.

 

“What happened? Why are you on the floor?” Rhys’s tone gave away his worry more than his expression did. His hand came up to feel your forehead and cheek. “You’re not hot... did you pass out? I’ve been trying to wake you up for like 5 minutes...”

 

You shook your head, giving your dry throat a swallow and winching at the scratchiness it caused. You pushed your arm behind you, propping yourself up and moving off of Rhys’s lap. His hand stayed near you incase you needed it to stable yourself. He continued watching you with worry, waiting for your response.

 

You cleared your throat, again feeling the uncomfortable dryness. “No...I- I took some medicine...it must’ve... mixed badly with the coffee...” you grumbled out, glancing around at the blueprints now shoved out of the way by Rhys. “Rhyyyys...those are important...” you mumbled, tiredly motioning towards them.

 

He glanced over to what you’d pointed at, noticing the prints causally tossed out of the way. Some folded over and scrunched up. He looked back at you. “I really don’t give a damn about the blueprints right now... Are  _you_  okay?”

 

That shocked you a little. This facility and everything in it was what he had been striving to build up for months now. These blueprints were  _very_  important. Anytime he’d had them out before, he handled them like a newborn baby.

 

You gave him a confused look. “Yeah, I’m- I’m fine, Rhys... I just finally fell asleep. Pretty hard, I guess...” you rubbed your head, noticing it’s dull ache now. His echoeye glowed, giving away his scanning of your vitals. He was still worried. Why did this man care so much? When you’d never given him  _much_  of a reason to even like you.

 

He stayed quiet for a moment before rising to his feet. You noticed his suit looked rather dirty. As in, literal dirt was on it. A couple small tears too. His held out his metal hand to you. You took it, letting him help you up. Your legs were a bit cramped, but nothing a bit of walking it out wouldn’t help.

 

“What happened to  _you_...? _”_ You asked, still looking at his slightly disheveled attire.

 

He let out a small chuckle, giving his neck a little rub. “I uh...” he began smiling a bit. “...we opened the vault.”

 

Your eyes widened. “How..?”

 

“With some help from some friends, and a big ass robot. We found Vaughn, and loader bot! Well...actually, loader bot found us... Fiona and me...” He was fully smiling now. You of course, had heard of those names and the stories that accompanied each. Rhys had thought Vaughn was dead. You could imagine the relief he must’ve felt once he’d found out that he wasn’t.

 

The two of you sat down on a more comfortable surface while he relayed the entire story, and how it wasn’t Fiona who had contacted him, but instead, Loader bot. You had to resist saying “I told you so.” to the fact that it had all seemed fishy to you from the beginning. He was alive, and back. That’s really all that mattered. Except...for one thing.

 

“What was in the Vault..?” You asked, after the main part of his story was over.

 

His smile grew again. “Not much...”

 

Your brows raised. “Not- what do you mean, ‘ _not much_ ’ ?”

He chuckled. “I mean, there were some guns and other useful things...but everyone took their share of those. Fiona and I touched this- ...it was like a portal...” Rhys seemed to be trying to make sense of things in his head enough to explain, and as confusing as they sounded - you imagined they were more confusing to experience. “We were teleported into this big, empty place. There was only a relic..just floating there...a vault symbol..”

 

Your eyes widened. You’d heard this before. Jack had told you of the relic he’d found inside of the vault on Elpis. He’d told you what it had showed him. You’d seen the very symbol it’d left scarred on to him, by Lilith.

 

“What did it show you...?” You asked without even thinking.

 

Rhys stopped whatever he was saying. “How did you- How did you know it showed me something?” He asked, his eyes then widening with realization. “...Jack?”

 

You nodded. “Did you touch it?” You asked, looking back to his eyes.

 

“Yeah...I did...we both did... I didn’t know what it was and then... I started seeing these things, like they were going straight into my brain. I could understand every one of them even though they were flashing by so quickly.. it was- amazing...” his eyes had almost glazed over as he seemed to be recalling the memory, his lips curved slightly. He shook his head a bit and refocused on you. “I know how to rebuild Atlas now.”

 

“How?” You simply asked.

 

“By leaving here.”

Your brows pulled together, unsure of what he meant by ‘ _leaving here_.’ Where _e_ lse would you go? You’d both already looked. There was no where else on Pandora to go.

 

“Will you come with me?” He asked, letting his hands come to your arms.

 

You shrugged out of his touch. “Rhys. There’s no where else to go, and I don’t know what you saw, but rebuilding Atlas isn’t going as well as-“

 

“I can take you away from Pandora.”

Your thoughts halted at that. “And away from every memory this planet haunts you with... If you’ll just come with me.”

 

You stayed quiet. Honestly, you were a bit lost for words. Getting away from Pandora was all you’d ever wanted throughout your entire life. Even on Helios, you’d look down and be reminded of memories you wished you could forget. Now this planet held countless other memories. You didn’t want to necessarily forget some, but you knew it would be easier if you  _did_  forget them.

You replayed his words in your head as you kept your eyes on the floor. Really, almost anywhere would be better than here. You couldn’t explain how much you hated having to be back on Pandora. All of the memories of your childhood, the memories you’d made here with Jack, and now the memories that you were forced to be making everyday since your entire life fell out of the sky. You weren’t sure you even cared where Rhys would be taking you. He was ready to take you away from all of this, and you were beyond ready to finally be away from it all.

 

After a moment, you looked back up to meet his gaze. His brown and golden eyes stared back at you.

The thing that stuck out in your mind the most to you was - the moment he’d asked you to come with him, before he even said you’d be leaving Pandora - your conscience had already said yes.

 

You took in a deep breath and let it back out slowly.

“Where are we going?”

 

A smile curved onto his lips.

“Promethea.”

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I didn’t get much feedback on the last chapter...so now I’m worried >_< but here’s this chapter anyway... 
> 
> The next chapter should have more plot development and maybe a surprise? I haven’t decided if that will be the next or the one after that... We shall see! 
> 
> Also, I’ve made the last few chapters longer... too long? Should I shorten them? Or keep em at about 5-7k words? 
> 
> Anyway, let me know what ya think and such 💛


	30. The Man In Blue

Rhys sat nearby, talking through a call with a man he’d gotten in contact with after returning from the vault. The visions of the relic may have given him an idea of how to get everything going, but figuring out the details was a bit trickier.

 

 This man, who you’d only heard of in passing before, was quite wealthy and was a shareholder, investor, and sponsor of a few different companies. Jack had never worked with him, didn’t need to. In fact, that was the only reason you knew who he was now. He’d tried plenty of times to get Jack to sign a deal with him, but as always - Jack would basically laugh and end whatever type of call they were having.

 

_“I’m not signing a deal with some asshole that works with Maliwan and Torgue. Maliwan are a bunch war hippies...and I just really can’t take Torgue seriously. Besides he sold his company for like $12.... I mean, what kind of idiot does that?_ ”

 

Edward Gilman was his name. He wasn’t the friendliest of men, but he loved money - and if you could make him lots of money, he loved you. As soon as Rhys explained that he now owned Atlas and wanted to start it up again, Mr. Gilman was heavily intrigued.

 

“Do you know how many people would buy a brand new Atlas gun even if it was complete shit? A lot. That’s how many!” You could hear the older man rambling on from across the room.

 

“Well yes sir, but I don’t want to make shitty weapons. I want Atlas to-“ Rhys tried to interject, but was quickly cut off.

 

“Nah nah nah. That doesn’t matter right now. What matters is getting you set up somewhere better. Where you can really shine. Where I- I mean _you_ , can make some money. Now let’s see...” Mr. Gilman trailed off in thought with a small hum.

 

Rhys glanced over to you. You motioned for him to go ahead. The two of you had talked about all of this already. Get in touch with Gilman - tell him about Atlas - see if he’s interested - and bring up Promethea.

That was the problem in all of this. Rhys knew he could completely rebuild Atlas once in Promethea. He’d seen that much. What he hadn’t seen - is _how_ he’d get there to begin with.

Rhys cleared his throat. “What um- what about Promethea? That’s where Atlas originated and-“

 

“Ha! Kid, if I could get you a spot on Promethea - I would, but ehh.... Ya know, actually... I have a small branch of Maliwan out there. Sold ‘em an old area in the city - gave ‘em a few years to make somethin of it, but they really haven’t. Been using it as warehouse or somethin. I didn’t worry too much about it, didn’t have any other buyers lookin at it - but if you started selling Atlas guns - _new Atlas guns_ on Promethea...where it all started. They’d sell better than those damn Geisha Bots everyone wanted a few years back.” He paused for a moment. “Give me a few days and I’ll get back to ya. See what I can do. Out.”

 

The call ended and Rhys looked over again. A small smile starting rising on his lips as he stood. He stretched his arms out and then his back. That call _had_ been going for quite awhile - even you were getting stiff just sitting there.

 

“You think this is the way?” You asked watching him stretch.

 

He finished up, giving a shrug. “It’s _a_ way. If it works...”

 

“Guess we’ll see in a few days.” You added - picking up your work and heading out of the room.

 

•

 

A long few days, it was. You’d watched Rhys pace just about every room in the facility. He also kept an extra echo on him just in case the one _literally inside of him_ somehow missed Gilman’s call.

 

You’d basically continued doing what you usually did. It was a bit more difficult to concentrate. Every so often, Rhys would wander in through the door - absentmindedly look around at everything, give you a thin smile, and head back out - until a few minutes later when his pacing would carry him _back_ in.

 

You couldn’t wait for this guy to call back. You’d have your answer if you and Rhys would be packing up and leaving Pandora, and Rhys would -hopefully- stop blankly wandering the halls.

You almost weren’t sure which one you were looking forward to more.

 

You looked back down to your work just in time to be interrupted once again by Rhys calling from down the hall.

 

“It’s him!!”

 

You let out a sigh - both grateful and slightly annoyed at the interruption. You stood up and made your way to the room Rhys had stopped in - leaning on the doorframe to listen in.

 

“Yes sir, I’m here. I can hear you...just transferring you to a better source..” Rhys was fidgeting with his palm - connecting the call there for better clarity. You had to give him props, he did pretty well at remaking that arm.

 

“Alright son, I did ya a big favor! That Maliwan warehouse? It’s yours now. I took it from ‘em yesterday.” Gilman spoke smugly. You could almost imagine he had fat cigar hanging out of his mouth, smiling to himself.

 

Rhys looked a bit shocked, as did you. “Wait, wait...you took their warehouse? Won’t that cause problems?” Rhys asked, now pacing in a line again.

 

“Nah. I told ‘em they had a few years to make a nice percentage in that area. They never turned a profit, so I took it back. It’s yours now, baby!”

 

Rhys looked like he may fall over.

 

“Anyway...it’s all getting moved out today. Should be empty in a couple days. Pack your shit and get on a ship - you’re moving up, son! I’ll send you a little bonus to get you out here quickly. I’ll be in touch. Out.”

 

The call ended. Rhys looked like he didn’t believe what he’d just heard - shaking his head a bit.

 

“Rhys...?” You asked. “You alright?”

 

He glanced over to you - the realization slowly registering and bringing a smile to his face.

 

“We’re going to Promethea... _We_ are going to Promethea!”

 

You smiled back and nodded. “Well, I’m going to go start packing and downloading then. We have quite a bit to take with us.”

 

Rhys nodded, still bouncing in place and trying to figure out what to do first.

 

•

 

Packing everything wasn’t really that large of a job. There was mostly only papers and blueprints. A few of the prototypes had to wrapped up to protect them, and the materials were packed up as well. You’d taken the job of downloading every bit of data to some drives, checking that it was all good, and erasing the systems afterwards. This facility would be locked down and hidden again once both of you got everything you needed out and left, but erasing crucial data seemed like a good safeguard.

 

Rhys took a couple days away to go and say goodbye to his friend, Vaughn. You stayed behind, far away from seeing Helios again, and finished up everything that needed to be done around the facility.

One perk about not having anyone left, no one to say goodbye to.

 

•

 

The “little bonus” Gilman had referred to ended up being a rather decent sized ship that’d get you to Promethea in just a few hours. Plus some hired guards to help keep the locals of Pandora away.

 

Once everything was packed, including you and Rhys - the process of take off was initiated.

You’d stayed in your seat for the take off, but as soon as the rumbling and shaking had subsided - you’d glued yourself to the window. Watching Pandora get further and further away felt like a weight finally being lifted off of your aching body. You’d never have to see that planet again. Unless you wanted to, but you honestly couldn’t see that ever happening.

The far off stars and particles that flew by the window were so welcoming. You were only on a travel ship, but it already felt so much more comforting.

 

Rhys had come to stand by you a couple times during the trip, but usually went back to his seat to continue working through things for the arrival. You stayed by the window, eventually sliding down the wall next to it and sitting on the floor. You didn’t want miss this. Soon you’d be back on solid ground, and you wanted all of the stars and space you could get before that.

 

•

 

The arrival went as expected. Planetary customs had to be gone through. A travel convoy had to be rounded up, and everything from the ship had to be loaded into the vehicle and taken to their new destination.

 

Word had apparently already spread that someone new was coming. Curious eyes watched from just about everywhere as you made your way through the glowing city.

It was unlike anything you’d ever seen. Neon lights, tall buildings, signs, and winding roads everywhere you looked. It definitely was a thriving metropolis. Just from first look, you already loved it an incomparable amount to Pandora.

 

You’d arrived at night, and looking up into the sky was absolutely breathtaking. The stars and auroras shined brilliantly even through the lights of the city.

 

You couldn’t help but continue to smile to yourself. You were away from Pandora. Away from that part of your life, and finally able to start new again.

 

•

 

The “warehouse” as Gilman had put it, wasn’t what you were expecting at all. Just like the others -just not as tall- it was a very nice building. It had access to the cities lower spill ways and seemed to be in a prime location. The worry of Maliwan not being too pleased about all of this was becoming prevalent again.

 

It took a couple weeks to get everything set up. Gilman’s initial sponsor was more than enough to buy all of the machinery and materials needed to get things going on an upward slope.

Within the first several months - the few prototypes were starting to be mass produced and sold. Gilman had been right, just about everyone wanted their hands on the new Atlas tech. Shipments were being made every week to various quadrants and planets.

Soon enough, demands for more were coming in regularly. Rhys was handling things as a CEO rather well, albeit a bit stressed at times. He’d come up with more designs - things no one had ever seen before. He’d even engineered new cybernetic implant upgrades, improving the older designs by far. Starting with his own, of course.

He’d decided to go back to the blue eye. Apparently the hud was easier to read than gold. You liked it. The bright blue added a splash of color to his mostly golden attributes.

 

The left over Crimson Lance that had stayed on Promethea had also begun working for Atlas again as soon as it was reestablished. With more people joining every month. It was a nice addition to have an armed force, just in case.

There was only the occasional nuisance that really called them into action - but it was always swiftly taken care of either way.

 

•

 

Rhys handled just about everything on his own. He was finally in his prime. You still handled some things from behind the scenes. Paperwork, scheduling, hiring of new employees, some design additions here and there, and a few other little things as they popped up. He’d asked you to stay with him after the crash, to help rebuild Atlas along side of him. As far as he‘s concerned - you’re his partner. Even though he didn’t have to, he’d always run ideas by you first and get your thoughts before doing anything big. You’d thought it was a bit funny at first, but by now you’d grown used to it. It _was_ better than him growing an ego the size of a planet. Not to say he wasn’t proud of everything that he had been able to accomplish, but he never seemed to forget that you’d stayed - when you could’ve left.

 

With Rhys, and Atlas now being an up and coming force, he’d gotten plenty of offers, partnership suggestions, and many threats from other companies. Nothing ever seemed to come from the threats, thankfully.

 

Until Maliwan got tired of being ignored.

 

•

 

As expected, having a warehouse and potential profit making spot taken out from under them, did get some attention. Although, it wasn’t until Atlas started growing at a rapid rate - that they really began to take notice of what had happened. Over the first year of being on Promethea, Atlas had begun expanding rather quickly. Various areas were bought out and branded with the Atlas logo. Rhys just about owned the entire planet.

Just as the relic had showed him.

 

Requests for partnerships and mergers had come to be a common occurrence. Rhys usually turning them down as professionally polite as he could, and occasionally just ignoring them altogether.

 

That’s where things started going down hill. As well as you could trace it, at least. Maliwan didn’t much care for being ignored by the very company that had basically wiped them off of the planet.

 

Soon, requests began turning into corporate threats. You both knew it was only a matter of time before threats turned into action.

 

•

 

‘ _Only a matter of time_ ’ ended up being around the two year mark of your move to Promethea. No warnings, no incoming threats - just one day, out of no where - Maliwan attacked the city.

 

Immediate evacuation protocols had to be put into place. Nearly the entire city complied, however the ones that chose to stay back were eventually moved inward and into safer areas or joined the Lance to help fight.

 

Maliwan had begun setting up heavy defense and offense measures. Entire roadways were being blocked everyday to slow down the Lances’ progress. Bases of attack were being set up and more ground troops were brought in daily.

After a couple of months of this “corporate warfare”, Maliwan unveiled a new weapon. Digistructed robotic troops. Assault teams could fly in a digistructor and have immediate access to nearly unlimited firepower. The entire Crimson Lance wouldn’t last long against that kind of technology - and unfortunately, Maliwan knew that.

 

You, Rhys, and the remainder of the Atlas workforce that chosen to stay behind watched as Maliwan took more and more of the city under its control.

If Rhys wouldn’t willingly comply, they’d make it the only choice he’d end up having left.

 

You’d watched Rhys struggle with what to do. You could tell this was tearing him apart. He didn’t want to see everything he’d built up be destroyed or taken in a matter of months - but he knew he couldn’t just hand over everything he’d worked so hard for. He wouldn’t just bend to Maliwan’s demands. As long as he had teams that wanted to fight, he’d stay and hold his position.

 

•

 

You couldn’t stand watching the live feeds. Watching as team after team of digistructed robots and ground troops fought and killed members of Atlas teams.

 

Reports would come in, of yet another assault being outmanned by Maliwan.

Watching and hearing these reports was driving you mad. The Lance could only hold them off for so long, before not even they would be of much help. They were already beginning to stretch thin. New recruits wouldn’t be coming in for another week. Maliwan seemed to have limitless bodies to throw at this. It didn’t help that you’d heard talk of their robotic devision improving just about daily. Soon they could have an entire army of robots to add into this mix.

 

One more person wouldn’t really do all that much, you knew that - but standing around and just watching - was making you stir crazy.

 

•

 

You knew Rhys wouldn’t just let you go out there. He’d already brought you and every other head employee to Atlas’s main headquarters. This building had the best defense against attacks. Rhys could still command from his holo-console, and stay safe. You’d tried to stay back with the Lance’s commander, but Rhys wouldn’t let you. You were basically locked away from danger, and of being any real use.

As it went now, Atlas was on temporary shutdown. Nothing being designed, produced, or even on any form of manufacturing track.

 

You couldn’t just sit here and watch. A spur of the moment plan was all you had, but it was something.

 

Since Rhys forbade the carrying of lethal weapons in the workplace, every possible gun you could get your hands on, would be locked up in the armory.

First step - get a gun.

 

•

 

“Step aside.” You spoke to the guard in front of the armory.

 

“Ma’am. I’ve been ordered to not allow access to anyone but Mr. Strongfork or the assault teams. He has relayed not to allow even you access to the armory - Incase you...’tried to do something stupid’ ...his words ma’am.” The man spoke back, keeping his gaze forward.

 

“So you do know who I am, right?” You asked, keeping your gaze locked on to his avoiding eyeballs.

 

“Yes ma’am.“

 

“Then move out of my way before I break Rhys’s little rule about not harming employees.”

 

His eyes flickered down to you and then the gun he currently held.

 

“Don’t try me.” You said firmly.

 

He let out a quiet sigh and stepped to the side - keeping his gaze forward.

You typed in your code, gaining access to the armory. You knew exactly which gun you were going for. A gorgeous, sleek, dark red and silver sniper with orange lit up accents. One of the sexier models Rhys had designed, and one of your favorites. You grabbed a pistol as well and strapped the sniper on to your back. The guard avoided looking at you entirely as you walked out of the armory - armed and ready.

 

You stalked back into the main room - pausing before fully entering. You were hoping to avoid Rhys’s notice. He was busy, still looking over reports and giving orders from the main console. Fortunately, it was on the far side of the room from the garage exit. Unfortunately, the garage exit was on the far side of the room from where you were. You knew he’d try and stop you. Especially with his order given to the armory guard.

You had everything you needed. Guns, ammo - check. Now just to get over to the other base, get up high, and start picking off some of these Maliwan dicks. You’d radio the Commander on the way. Once you were out of Rhys’s grasp. Getting a vehicle was going to be a challenge. It would alert Rhys as soon as the perimeter to the garage was triggered. You’d have to be fast.

 

You stepped in and quickly headed towards the door to the garage.

 

“Woah! What the hell are you doing?” Rhys asked, whipping around the console he’d been standing at - as you continued trying to make your way to the garage. He quickly got between you and the exit. “How did you get these guns? I told them-“ he let out a huff, rolling his eyes.

 

“Those Mailiwan assholes are still out there Rhys! I’m not just going to keep standing around in here!” You shoved past him, heading for the door. He was quick. He pulled the sniper off of your shoulder - letting it fall to the floor. His other hand wrapped around your arm pulling you back and pushing you against the wall. His flesh hand could be wiggled out of, but not his cybernetic one. His grips on both arms were tight. Much more firm than he’d ever been with you before. He stood close. Close enough to keep you in his control.

It was.... _intriguing_. So different from how he usually acts.

His eyes bore into you. His expression just as firm as his hold.

“Let me go, Rhys.” You said firmly, glaring up at him.

 

“No.” His voice was solid. Low. He was serious - you could tell, but that didn’t stop you from wanting to go out there and shoot some of those assholes.

 

“Let. Me. Go.” You demanded.

 

“No. You’re not going out there, (y/n). I don’t care how good of a shot you are. There are too many of them. Let the Lance handle it. This is what _they_ are trained for. _You_ aren’t.”

He stayed quiet for a moment, staring back at you as you glared at him. “I’m not going to let you run out there and try to play hero-“

 

“Goddamnit, Rhys- Why do you care?!” You raised your voice now. “They are going to take Watershed base! We’ve been here for two years. Two years! That’s all! Maliwan is going to take everything from you! You’re going to lose everything if-“

 

Rhys’s grip tightened as he stepped even closer, his face nearly touching yours now as he leaned down. “And I will not lose you too!” His voice raised over yours - halting your words immediately. Rhys never raised his voice, at least not to you. You stayed quiet, just looking into his eyes and breathing. Trying to calm your heart that had sped at his assertiveness. “I care about you- ...I won’t let you go out there.” His voice had lowered now, but he stayed still. Close.

 

Your heart was still pounding. You could feel a tingle in your stomach. Slight excitement at this side of Rhys. You’d watched him grow into a CEO - seen new, and more boss like tendencies grow - but never like this, not to you. This was more than just a boss giving an order. This was Rhys not wanting to lose you and showing you in the only way your stubborn mind would listen.

Your eyes flicked down to his lips - instantly returning to his eyes just as quickly. “ _What are thinking_?” You scolded yourself in your mind.

-but then you saw it. His eyes flick down to your lips. His didn’t instantly return to your eyes though. They lingered there...for just a moment. Long enough to make your heart pound even harder. You wanted to squirm free of his grasp, to get out of this situation - but then...part of you wanted to see what he would do.

He moved a hair closer, but paused. His eyes faintly moving between your lips and eyes. You were looking up at him, your chin already tilted from the difference in height. His eyes fell and lingered on your lips again.

 

“Rhys...” you whispered.

 

His tongue brushed against his lips as he leaned closer. He lingered for another moment before finally pressing his lips to yours. Warm and soft. His grips on your arms were still tight, but the muscles you’d been straining against him with had fallen limp as soon as his lips met yours.

He pulled away, but just slightly. His eyes trailed between both of yours. His breathing was heavier.

 

“I’m- I’m sorry... I shouldn’t have-“ he breathily tried to speak. His grip fell from your arms.

Without giving yourself time to think - you grabbed the back of his head with your open hand and pulled him to you, kissing him deeper this time. You felt his hands immediately cup your jaw - his racing pulse thumping through his finger tips. You knew yours had to be too, along with the quick inhales through your nose. The both of you were breathing heavier now. One of his arms fell and wrapped around you, pulling you against him, almost desperately.

It was the first kiss since Jack... It had been over four years. Nearly five - very long years, and surprisingly, kissing Rhys felt...nice. Maybe it was the feeling of feeling someone again - being this close. Maybe it was the softness of his lips or the feeling of his racing pulse as the two of you kissed. Maybe it was tightness of his arm around you after years of wanting you, but keeping the distance he knew you preferred. Whatever it was, it was just that...it was nice.

 

You both let the kiss end, as you were still held against him in his sudden embrace. Both chests rising and falling - trying to catch the needed breaths. You slowly looked up and into his eyes. His met yours and stayed there for a moment. You felt his his arm loosen, along with his hand cupping your face. Your arms dropped back too. He took a step back giving you back your space. His mouth opened as if there was something he wanted to say, but nothing came out.

 

You pulled the pistol off of your wrist and pushed it into his hands.

 

“We have to do something. I won’t sit in here forever.” You broke your gaze and walked past him. Your mind was a giant, tangled mess. _Why? Why did you kiss him back_? It was just- for just a moment, you’d let your guard down. You’d purely given into thoughts that had only crossed your mind sparsely within the last couple years. Rhys was your business partner. He’d grown to be your friend, your most trusted person - but, even you couldn’t deny that part of you was still lonely. Still wanted that feeling of affection again. Jack was gone - you knew that. You’d had to keep telling yourself that for _years_. Part of you just couldn’t let go. Some part of you still felt guilty for letting your mind become even a little attracted to someone else. _Would it always be like this?_ Would the passing of time ever release the hold that your feelings for Jack still held on you?

 

•

 

You’d gone back to pacing around the base. Still hearing the ground reports coming in, and avoiding listening as best as you could. You’d already personally locked down the systems at Watershed Base. Maliwan wouldn’t be able get in without the right codes. If they somehow did, the entire system would erase. A result that would be unfortunate, but definitely needed. However, you’d already copied everything from that bases systems when it had first come under attack. No doubt that Maliwan was trying to gain access already. Bring the base back online and all of its monitoring systems and vehicle bays come back online as well. Even if the system is wiped - it would still be incredibly useful to them.

 

•

 

Another couple of days passed. Rhys had seemed even more stressed than usual. He was hardly finishing sentences and seemed far lost in thought. He kept fidgeting with his echo - his eye moving back and forth as he quickly scanned over the things that only he could see.

 

Your eyes were drawn away from the reports that the Lance’s Commander had sent to you directly. She knew you wanted information on what was currently going on. Especially since you couldn’t be out there helping. Rhys had gotten up and made his way into his personal lab/office. You could hear some clattering.

 

You looked in through the doorway to see Rhys crouched down and digging through some boxes and tossing out the things that were apparently in the way of what he was searching for.

 

“Rhys...? What are you looking for?” You asked from the doorway, still watching.

 

Your voice startled him as he let out a small peep and nearly fell over from his crouch with a jump. He turned around, giving you a shrug and attempting to look calm. “Wha- nothing, nothing... just looking for...something that could help...” he nodded, giving you a thin, faked smile.

 

You narrowed your eyes. He’s acting odd. Maybe it’s just the stress. You knew he had to be just about drowning in it by now. You gave a slight nod back. “Mmmhm... alright.. I’m going to start backing everything up. It’ll probably take a couple days to download everything bit by bit...but, probably best.. Just in case.”

 

He nodded again, giving another seemingly nervous smile. “Yeah, yeah... Um, good idea!”

 

You turned away and went back to the main console. You could access all of the departments from here - making it the easiest way to start the backup of all of the Atlas database. You figured it was best to leave Rhys alone for now anyway.

 

•

 

3rd Person POV 

Rhys continued rummaging through boxes that had been stacked up for months, maybe even since he’d left Pandora. He was looking for one thing. Just one tiny, little box. He could’ve sworn he’d put it in one of these. Granted, he didn’t think he’d ever actually be crouched over in his office with papers, blueprints, and plenty of other spilled contents from these boxes littering the floor, while he searched through every one of them to find it. Yet, here he was. CEO of Atlas, frantically looking for a way to hopefully save his company, and keep his business partner from doing something insane. 

 

Box after box...and nothing. Where was the damn thing?! For weeks after the crash of Helios, he’d kept it out...just to look at it and wonder why he’d kept it. He’d finally locked it away in a tiny metal box, sealed with his thumbprint. Now, he couldn’t find it anywhere. There were only a few boxes left to check. He kept looking at the box in the very back, bottom corner. It would be in that one, wouldn’t it? The very last one he’d check. The hardest one to get to.

 

He let out a sigh and scooted the open boxes out of the way to move the unopened ones out of the corner. It wasn’t the best way to keep old documents - nor the best looking, but it kept them out of the way and easy to access if ever needed. Plus, after moving from one planet to another - Rhys really hadn’t felt like unpacking most of them and just kept them in the corner of his large office/tech lab. They weren’t in the way, so they hardly ever actually crossed his mind. Until the last couple of days. He’d been wracking his mind, trying to think of a way to get a hand up in this “war.” The digistructing tech that Maliwan possessed was killing Atlas - literally. He needed to figure out some way to take those systems down, even if it was just temporary. Even better if he could find a way to copy the tech.

Problem was - almost no immediate solution was coming to mind. Except one little, nagging thought - that kept popping up in the very back of his mind.

 

Now, here he was - searching for that one little thing. Just to see.

 

 

Finally, after moving out the last few boxes - he pulled the last one out and knelt down in front of it. If it wasn’t in this last one, he had no idea where he might have put it. A thought he really didn’t want to be true. This wasn’t something you just lose and say ‘ _eh, oh well_ ’ with a little shrug. No, this was important.

 

He cut through the plastic cord holding the flaps on the box closed. Just as most of the others, papers and folders were the first thing to be seen. He pulled those out and plopped them down on the floor...with the all of the others that he’d have to pick up soon. Under those were some of the old Hyperion echos he’d found in the crash, some little metal bits in a baggy, and some wires. He remembered packing this box now. It was all of the little tinkering things he’d wanted to fix from the crash. To try, once again, to get into the Hyperion systems. It hadn’t worked, so into the box of ‘ _deal with later_ ’ they went. He moved those out of the way, and finally uncovered the little box he’d been looking for.

A smile rose to his lips as he held it up, looking at it. The smile slowly faded as thoughts began to swim through his mind. He took a deep breath in and let it back out in a sigh. Standing, and placing the little metal box down on his desk - he looked around at the mess he’d made.

“Of course it was in the last box. Why wouldn’t it have been?” He grumbled to himself. Mentally kicking himself for not labeling the boxes better.

He grumbled again and began stacking the papers back up - placing them back into the boxes as best as he could without reading through each and every one to see where exactly they belonged. This would definitely be a nuisance in the future if he ever needed to rely on these papered documents, but for now...he had other matters he wanted to attend to.

 

•

 

He rolled his chair up to his desk and looked at the older Atlas computer system he’d dug out. He pressed the ‘on’ button and after a few seconds the screen lit up orange with a ‘starting up’ message. “Well at least it still works...” he mumbled to himself as he moved the little box over on the desk, to now be in front of him. His fingers fidgeted over it, avoiding the thumbprint lock. He just stared down at it, contemplating if this would even work. The computer beeped, pulling him out of his thoughts and drawing his attention to the screen. The computer indicated that it was done rebooting - normal routine could commence.

 

Rhys glanced back down at the box. “Let’s see if this works, I guess...” He moved his thumb over the small black rectangle, earning a little beep as the box’s tiny lock disengaged. He moved his thumb up, opening the hinged lid. Black velvet lined the interior and the small cushion that held the old, ripped out Echoeye. It looked so delicate now, just lying against the velvet - cushioned, so that nothing would damage it.

 

For something that had caused him so much pain, he’d made sure that it was safe. He never could bring himself to destroy it. He’d never even planned to ever again open this little box. “Plans change though, huh?” He spoke out loud to his own thoughts, shaking his head slowly.

 

He pulled out the empty drive he’d gotten ready and stuck it into the computer. Next, with light fingers, he pulled the eye piece out of the box. He almost laughed at himself for being so careful with it - when he had literally pulled it, rather harshly, from his own head. He plugged the microchipped end into a transfer dock and began downloading the contents onto the empty drive. He’d be able to actually see the code once the transfer was done. Honestly, he wasn’t really sure what he was hoping to see in the code...but he didn’t have to wonder long.

The download finished rather quickly and allowed the file to be opened.

 

Since this computer wasn’t hooked up to any network or at all to him, he’d have to do everything manually. No ease of access from his arm or Echoeye.

 

He tapped on the file that now read HJA(K-A1.EXE. A small shiver coursed through him as he read the name. He calmed himself. Nothing could happen. This computer would only allow him to read the code. Even _if_ the AI was still functioning, it wouldn’t even know Rhys was looking at it.

Lines of codes began appearing. Typing out each character as it quickly wrote out the entire code of the Jack AI. Rhys’s eyes scanned over each line as he scrolled down. It was a huge amount of coding. Nothing out of the ordinary stuck out. Rhys was almost disappointed. He’d hoped to see something. He just wasn’t sure what. He finally made it to the bottom, to see another file appear as the last line of code finished being typed out.

 

His brows pulled together in a bit of confusion.

“This shouldn’t have a file attached to it...” he mumbled to himself - his hand holding his chin - propping his head up, with his finger pressed against his lips. He tapped on the file. Immediately, 7 different smaller files appeared. 6 were audio files. Rhys’s brow seemed to be permanently furrowed as he looked at the increasing strangeness he’d just opened up. “What the-...”

 

Rhys glanced up towards the door. (Y/n) said she’d be downloading. He knew that would take a couple days, but surely she’d take breaks here and there. He’d never told her that he’d kept the eye - and definitely never told her that it was still intact. He couldn’t have her walking in and seeing _any_ of this. He brought up his echo and remotely closed the door - engaging its lock. He looked back to the screen - eyes moving around to each file. He swallowed the lump that had appeared in his now dry throat. Taking another deep breath in - he tapped on the first audio file.

 

 

An almost quiet man’s voice appeared. He had an odd tone. Just from the way he talked, he sounded a bit...nutty.

-

This is Professor Nakayama. Log 1.

I’ve finally caught something worthwhile on the lines I’ve tapped. Jack is down on Pandora. He’s planning on waking The Warrior... a vault monster...or guardian. I’m...not sure.. Either way, the chances of him surviving something like that alone are slim. This could finally be my chance to see if my creation works! Ah ha!

I’m going down to Pandora. To follow him... I’ll need to be careful. I’ll update soon.

-

 

Rhys stared at the screen. Much more confused than he had been. He definitely hadn’t expected to hear Nakayama’s voice. Was he expecting Jack’s voice? He wasn’t sure...but either way - now he was even more curious.

He nervously glanced towards the door again. Still shut. Still locked. He rolled his eyes at himself. “ _Of course it’s still locked. You just locked it_.” _  
_

He hovered over the second audio file for a moment. Quickly giving it a tap and opening it up.

 

-

Hi again... This is Professor Nakayama. Log 2.

I was right...in a way... Jack woke The Warrior, but he was able to control it! I was...an _amazing_ sight! He’s just _so_ cool! *odd excitement noises* * _Ahem_ *...but, he was wounded...by- by the vault hunters- the Crimson Raiders. They _killed_ The Warrior...but they just left Jack to die. They think he’s dead... I heard them broadcast their “victory” _Everyone_ is going to think he’s dead now.. *static silence for a moment*

He was bleeding out and unconscious. I managed to stop the bleeding and get him into the capsule and onto my shuttle. He’s badly hurt... The calibration of his DNA will take a couple hours, and then I can return him to Helios to continue the process.

Ah! When Jack wakes up he’ll have to love me! 

I shall update when I get back to Helios.

-

 

Rhys’s eyes had widened so much that they now burned a little. His mouth hung agape as his mind tried to comprehend what he’d just heard. _Jack....didn’t die_?

He quickly tapped on the third audio file without hesitation.

 

-

*voice noticeably shaken and whispering*

This is...Professor Nakayama. Log...um..3? Yes, 3.

Something bad is happening. I noticed movement on my radar. I thought it was those vault hunters coming back for something, but it’s not. It’s _Hyperion_. They’re looking for Jack...but....I overheard the order they were given. Someone named Hudson? I think that’s what they said. Told them to bring Jack’s body back...and to _make sure_ he was dead. Whoever this Hudson guy is- ...doesn’t want Jack back alive. This isn’t good. I’ve hidden myself and Jack, but...the team is searching through my things... they’re going to know what I’m trying to- Oh no...I think they’ve found me- *clatter and then silence* _  
_

_-_

Just as quickly, Rhys tapped on the next file.

 

-

*Heavy breathing. Strained voice*

This is Professor....Naka- ...yama. Log....I’m- I’m not sure... 4? I think it’s 4...

I managed to get away in the shuttle. A- ..a bullet grazed me... I should be alright though.. I can’t go back to Helios. Whoever is taking over up there now doesn’t want Jack back... I’m taking him to my secret laboratory...I have to try and... oh my g-... I can barely breath. I have to...get Jack to safety... *end*

-

 

Rhys’s heart was pounding - his head swimming with what he was hearing. He tapped the next as soon as the 4th ended.

 

 

The voice sounded more calm now. Still shaky though, but no longer whispering or exasperated.

-

This is Professor Nakayama. Log 5.

I made it to my laboratory and locked the place down. I think I may have been followed... Jack is safe for now. He’s still in the capsule. I’ve locked him away in the underground vault. No one but myself can get in.

I’m in the process of scanning his brain...

The AI will be the key. If something happens to me- *a pause* ..he’ll still be alive. The regeneration will be slow...but, the capsule will heal his wounds over time. He won’t wake up until- no...it’s too dangerous for me to say.

Just- the AI is the key- ...and it will stay _with_ me. I can’t let it fall into the wrong hands. *a small gasp can be heard*

I hear something... *quiet for a moment* They’re here! They _did_ follow me... I’m locking down the lab and the vault. I can’t let them get to him! *audio cuts out*

-

 

Rhys’s eyes hover over the files - noticing the next one is the last audio file. With what he’d just heard in the previous log, and the fact that he’d found Nakayama’s corpse a couple years back in some crazy Pandoran museum of dead people... He had a growing feeling that there was a reason this was the last audio file.

He went ahead and tapped on it.

 

-

Professor Nakayama. I think this could be my last log... I hope not...but- at least I saved Jack... 

The Hyperion team wasn’t able to get in to the vault. That...Hudson guy, I remember him now that I heard his voice. I _hated_ that guy. Always kissing up to Jack. He’d never be good enough for Jack- anyway, anyway- that doesn’t matter right now. I’m hiding away in my lab now, I don’t want them to find out where the vault is...it’s hidden...they’re looking for me...

I can hear the team on my security feed... Listen.

 

*static-y voices appear*

_Unknown Soldier- Sir. We’ve tracked the Professor to some secret lab. He’s locked it down. We were able to get in, but we can’t get to Jack. He’s locked somewhere underground. Nakayama is the only one with access._

_Hudson- So no one else can just walk in one day and open it, correct?_

_Unknown Soldier- Yes sir, that’s what this system says. We’d need some AI or Nakayama himself. Looks like he’s trying some cloning thing too... There’s DNA samples talked about in some of this data._

_Hudson- Good. We’ll just tell everyone that his body was lost to the lava. I’ll send a little anonymous hint to those vault hunters about this lab. They should be interested in destroying any possible clones of Jack._

_Now, commence operation 3._

_Unknown Soldier- Yes sir. *rapid gunfire opens, goes on for a few seconds and ceases* The rest of the team are all dead, Sir. Should I return to you now?”_

_Hudson- Hm...no. Collect every log you can from this Nakayama guy. I don’t want anyone ever finding out what he’s done. Then return to me. You’ll get your...bonus...for helping me._

_Unknown Soldier. Yes sir._

_*_ static subsides. Nakayama’s voice sounds frantic now _*_

Oh no...I don’t have time to copy everything...I can’t delete it all- *muffled noises* they’re going to find these logs... I can’t..errgh! I have to hide!

*audio cuts out*

-

 

Rhys sat still, just staring at the screen.

_“Jack is alive somewhere...HANDSOME JACK IS ALIVE._ ” His thoughts were echoing in his head. His heart feeling like it was absolutely going to explode. His eyes glanced back to the screen. These files were all dated for nearly five years ago, but their download to the AI’s code was dated a little over two years ago. Right around the time of the crash.

Rhys’s eyes widened again with realization.

 

“He found these when he was in Helios’s system... He knows he didn’t die...” Rhys nearly tripped as he sprung up from his chair to pace back and forth. One hand gripping his hip, the other running through his now messed up hair. “What do I do? What do I do!?” He kept asking himself. Only increasing the chaos going through his mind.

 

He stopped as he glanced back at the screen. One more file.

 

He threw himself back into the chair and tapped on the text file. It opened into a duel file. Text and audio. He tapped on the audio log first.

 

-

Computer of Vincent Hudson.

Classified Information. Level 3of3 Lockdown.

 

“Jack’s dead. Well, as good dead. Now Helios and all of Hyperion are mine. I’ve dealt with the retrieval team. No one else will be finding out about this. He’s locked away in some underground laboratory or something. Either way, the vault hunters are on their way to kill Nakayama for trying to clone Jack. Once he’s taken care of, no one can get into his little vault. Hell, no one even knows about it. I got Johnson to copy all of that weirdos logs and send them to me - then delete them all from Nakayama’s database. He was good at following orders. Shame he had die too. Ha! He actually came in here thinking I was going to give him a bonus.

Ah, oh well... I have Hyperion and it’ll stay mine forever, now that I know of this _regeneration chamber_ thing Nakayama made. Just gotta figure out how to get in there and it’s all mine. After I kill Jack once and for all, that is. I’ve got time though.

Yepp. Now I have Jack’s title, his space station, and his little secretary. Haha! I planned on having my team follow him down there and kill him, but this worked out so much better! Woo...it’s good to be King!”

*audio cuts out as Hudson’s laughter continues*

 

The text part of the duel document was opened next.

It was notes on Nakayama’s regeneration chamber. Notes seemingly made by the Professor, himself.

 

-It helps the still living cells heal and regenerate. Stopping all aging while inside and reversing it to a small extent. (Some wrinkles, skin elasticity, organ health) Dead cells can not be regenerated, so some scaring may persist. (Will keep working on that)

I’ve also stopped the growth of keratin. Fingernails, toenails, and hair should stay relatively the same length as when entered.

The subject (Jack) will be in a comatose like state until myself, or the AI - enter in the reactivation code.

The code is implanted into the AI. It will know what to do once inside the chambers systems. Reactivation will shut down the AI’s functions - rendering it basically asleep until rebooted into a powered up console of any capable source.

-AI may have some trouble remembering without a memory trigger. Shouldn’t be a problem, unless something happens to me.

-

 

Rhys stared blankly at the screen. For _years_ , _everyone_ has thought that Handsome Jack died.

“This is insane...” Rhys whispered to himself, still trying to wrap his head around all of this. His eyes glanced back down to the Echoeye - dangling from the transfer dock. He’d had this information for years...just sitting in a box, in another box...in the corner...gathering dust.

 

Rhys couldn’t even remember why he’d been so interested in pulling it now. With everything he’d just listened to - his thoughts were a bit distracted. He’d wanted to see if Jack’s AI code was even still functioning. It really didn’t tell him much, except that the AI was still intact.

He wanted to know more. How much did the AI Jack really know about his real body? Did he know where it was? If so, he’d probably- no, definitely want to get to it. However, there would be no way for the AI to get there without someone taking it.

Suddenly an idea began to blossom in Rhys’s mind.

 

He pulled the now loaded drive out of the computer and just looked down at it for a moment. There was absolutely no way in hell he was sticking it in his head. Even with all of the upgrades he’d applied to his cybernetics, it was too much of a gamble.

There had to be some way he could see if the AI would work. Some way to possibly communicate.

 

He began glancing around the room. Just about everything in here was linked in some way to Atlas’s entire mainframe. Another definite no.

 

Rhys went to stand and in the process, knocked his nearly empty coffee mug off of the corner of his desk. He bent over with a roll of the eyes and a sigh, as he reached down to mop up the spilled mess. Then his eyes caught it - his watch. He’d completely overhauled the Atlasio’s design - making it much more powerful, with many more abilities. His for instance, could sync wirelessly to his eye and ear piece. There was no way it could be hacked - he’d tested that many times - and it would allow him to see and hear the AI. If it even still worked...

 

He began rummaging through his drawers of various tech parts and wires. Finally he found the transfer cord for his watch. He plugged the cord into the watch first, hesitating a moment before finally taking in a deep breath and sticking the drive into the other end.

 

He waited for a moment - standing completely still. He darted his eyes around the room, seeing if he could see any hint that it had worked. Nothing.

Another minute passed with nothing happening. He glanced down at his watch. The transfer had worked - or at least it was showing that the files were available. His heart had been pounding, but had slowed considerably now. He almost felt...disappointed. Some part of him was quite curious to see what would happen by waking the AI up...or rebooting it? Whatever the process was called.

 

He let out a small huff and pulled the wire out of the watch and set it and the drive down on his desk. His eyes fell on his now empty coffee mug. He picked it up and began walking towards the door of his office - unlocking with his eye as he got closer.

 

“ _Atlas, huh_?”

Rhys stopped mid-step. Frozen by the voice in his ear.

“ _Ya know,_ ** _I_** _used to own Atlas_.”

 

Rhys slowly turned around - eyes scanning around the room. There was nothing there. He shook his head. Had he just imagined that? No...it was so clear - so real sounding.

 

The blue man’s form then flickered in front of him. Leaning back on Rhys’s desk with his arms crossed. A smug smirk spilled across his lips.

 

“ _Well_ _._ _Isn’t this a surprise_ _,_ _Rhysie_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyooo ^_^ I’m back with an update sooner this time! This chapter wasn’t going to be this long...but...it ended up that way. Oh well, right ^~^
> 
> Anyway....About time he’s back, huh? ~_^ 
> 
> So, I know I kind of skimmed over the building up of Atlas...and I kind of wish I had more to put into it, but...I just didn’t. It seemed like it flowed better if I just put it in a general brief...thing... words and such, yeah...
> 
> What’d ya think of that little moment between Rhys and reader? (☉◡ಠ)
> 
> If you ever have favorite parts, let me know! It’s fun to see what you guys enjoyed or what stuck out to ya ^_^ 
> 
> Again, as always...Thank you so much for reading this longish fic and leaving me loves! 💛 
> 
> It’s not over yet, soon...but not yet ^_^


	31. A Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is another dialog heavy chapter. I hate it. -but it needed to be done, I guess. The next chapter should be out sooner than a week though. I’ll try at least ^_^

 

 

 

 

 

“ _Well. Isn’t this a surprise, Rhysie_?”

 

Rhys stood - speechless. Sure, he’d wanted it to work...but now that the man- AI, himself was standing right in front of him - he immediately realized he had no idea what to say to him.

 

“ _I don’t know why you look so surprised, kiddo. You’re the one who plugged me back in...after who knows how long. ..Can’t really tell time in the black void of nothingness._ ” Jack’s expressions echoed the snarkiness of his tone.

He waited for Rhys to respond, but he just stood there. His mouth still slightly open in bewilderment.

Jack raised his brow questioningly - “ _There any gears turning in that head of yours, Kiddo_?” - finally prompting Rhys to react.

 

“Um...uh- Y-you were...conscious..? The whole time?” Rhys words stumbled from his lips.

 

“ _Uh, Yeah._ ” Jack responded. His tone showing how unamused he was at that situation.

 

“Oh...” Rhys mumbled, looking down towards the ground.

 

The AI leaned off of the desk and began casually walking around the office - looking around at the various things still littering the....well, everything.

 

“ _This is_... _decent. I mean, it’s nothing too fancy...but_...” he shrugged before looking down at the many boxes, still open with papers only casually thrown back in them. “ _Did ya tidy up just for me, or is this just how you file away important documents_?” He looked back to Rhys, giving him a playful, smug smirk.

 

Rhys rolled his eyes. “Neither. _Thank you_. I was...looking for something.”

 

“ _For that_?” Jack asked, still smirking as he pointed down to the old Echoeye piece.

 

Rhys’s eyes widened before he shut them for a few seconds with a huff through his nose. Why he still didn’t expect Jack to not notice absolutely everything, was beyond him. The man didn’t get to where he was _just_ from killing _._ He was pretty damn intelligent too.

 

“ _So_ ,” Jack began again. “ _Why_ did _you decide to..._ turn me on?” He smirked again with a wink, knowing it would make Rhys uncomfortable. “ _Because, obviously you had to go through a few steps...could’ve stopped at any one of ‘e_ m...”

Rhys rolled his eyes again. He had a feeling this was only the beginning of many eye rolls. “I’m starting to wonder that, myself.”

 

“ _Ah, come on, Rhysie_...” Rhys narrowed his eyes at the nickname. “ _Didn’t ya miss me_?” Jack’s smirk seemed to be permanently placed on his lips.

 

Rhys walked closer to his desk - avoiding walking through Jack, and sat his coffee mug back down on its surface. “I don’t know if that’s the word I’d use, Jack. You _did_ try to kill me.”

_“Yeeeahhhh....and you crashed my space station into the ground. Oh, and sent me to a never ending abyss._ ” He paused for a moment, giving a small chuckle. Rhys just watched, silently. “ _You know what’s funny though? I spent so long just thinking of all of the ways I could kill you, if I ever got the chance...but eventually, I just got bored of it.”_

Rhys’s brow raised a bit. Curious to see where the blue man was going with this.

 

“ _I had plenty of time to think_. _Fucking pleeeenty of time._ _I mean, mayyyybe it was wrong of me to try and put a metal skeleton in you. You trusted me, and got me back to Helios. Hell, you did just about everything I asked you to. Not as many of the fun, murderous variety, as you could’ve...but still. I guess I could’ve...at least, used someone else to be my new body.”_ He paused for another moment _. “Not that that really matters now though.”_ His tone had darkened a bit with his last sentence.

 

Rhys immediately knew what he was referring to, but avoided mentioning it just yet.

“Is that...an _apology_ , Jack?” Rhys smirked this time, adding some sass to his tone.

 

Jack’s eyes rolled as he gave his shoulders a barely visible shrug. “ _If that’s what you want to take it as, then sure. I may not have learned humility when I ‘_ died _’...we’ll come back to that in a minute, but um...being alone...with all the time in the world to just...think, and only think about everything I’ve done wrong... I realized that trying to kill my, like- one ally...wasn’t the best choice_.”

 

Rhys raised his brow, giving a small, but genuine smirk. “Well. I’m glad you realized that. I can’t be too mad at you still. Because of all that... _I_ own Atlas now. Built it back up and everything. I sell better than Hyperion most days.” He allowed his smirk to turn smug.

 

“ _You stole my deed_?” He gave a small laugh. “ _I guess I can’t blame you. I would’ve done the same_. _Is that what you brought me out for, though? To brag about your company, Mr. CEO?”_

Rhys shook his head, finally sitting back down in _his_ comfy chair. Boy, did it feel nice being the one behind the desk - sitting in the big chair, while Handsome Jack stood next to it - _not_ being the boss. “No. I found those files you attached to your code. _You_ found them in Helios’s database?”

 

Jack leaned back into a sitting position - floating above the ground, but looking rather comfortable in his invisible chair. “ _Ya did, huh? So now you know too_.” His smirk had reappeared. “ _That’s why you brought me back?_ ”

Rhys let out a quiet sigh - more like a deep exhale as he looked toward his desk’s top and fidgeted with a pen lying on it. “Atlas is under attack. Corporate takeover attempt...” he paused for a moment. “..by Maliwan.” He heard Jack scoff, almost making him chuckle - but deciding against it. “If I- ...if I can, _eventually_ , get you your body back...on a promise of truce between you and I, _and_ our companies... Would you be willing to help me save mine before Maliwan takes it?” Rhys kept his eyes down for a moment. He didn’t really want to look at Jack’s assured amused and smug face - at Rhys asking _him_ for help.

He glanced over to Jack - surprised when he saw that Jack wasn’t smugly smiling back at him, but rather seemed to be thinking.

 

“ _I always hated Maliwan...”_ Jack began _. “So high on themselves because ‘_ oh, we have elemental guns that have fun names and blah, blah, blah _...’ Shit is more like it. Sacrifice actual weapon damage for some elemental that you could easily get on a Hyperion model. A better looking one at that_.”

 

Rhys stayed quiet as he listened to Jack’s mini rant.

 

“ _Friggin_ _dicks. Never could out-profit me though.”_ Now the smug smile appeared _._ Jack looked back to Rhys, meeting his gaze. “ _How?”_

Rhys was a bit caught off guard. He’d expected Jack to just laugh at his proposal. “How...to what?” He asked, just for good measure.

 

“ _Well two things, Cupcake. One, how would I even be able to help? -and two, how would you get my body back?_ ” Jack had leaned forward now, motioning the numbers out with his fingers as he talked. “ _It’s locked away somewhere, underground_.”

 

“Do you know where?” Rhys asked. He hadn’t seen a location in the files, nor did Nakayama mention where his top-secret laboratory was...for obvious reasons.

 

“ _Eh_. _I found a location ping where some of the audio files were recorded, but that’s about it._ ”

Jack then looked towards the closed window. Even though it was stories above ground level and designed so that no one could see in, while anyone inside was still able to see out - Rhys had closed the metal shutters on it for added security during this mess with Maliwan.

 

Jack stood and walked over to it, turning to Rhys and motioning to it. “ _Wanna open this up for me, buddy_?”

 

Then it dawned on Rhys. Jack’s AI couldn’t possibly know that they weren’t on Pandora anymore. The sight of the city below would probably not be what he’s expecting.

Rhys unlocked the shutters with a tap to his projected screen. They slowly slid into the walls on either side of the window.

 

Sure enough, the AI’s head pulled back in surprise as his brows raised. He turned back to Rhys after a moment of looking over the cityscape. “ _What the hell is that? It sure as hell ain’t Pandora_.”

 

Rhys let out a small chuckle, rising to stand next to the holographic man. “Nope. It’s definitely not. Welcome to Promethea. Home of the Atlas Corporation.” He smiled his best proud CEO smile as he glanced over to Jack.

 

Jack glanced back out to the view, giving a small nod. “ _Well. Sure has changed since I last saw it. Granted, that was...quite awhile back_.”

 

Rhys exhaled through his nose with a small laugh. “Yeah...it’s really become something over the years...but now, Maliwan wants it. The way things are going, they just might get it.”

Rhys sighed with a shrug and went back to his chair.

 

“ _How long has it been? Since Helios_...” Jack asked, still looking out at the view.

 

“A little over two years...” Rhys responded, fidgeting with the pen again.

 

“ _Hm. Not too bad, I guess... Felt longer_.”

Jack flickered in front of him - his arms crossed again. “ _Alright_. _Deal_.”

 

Rhys’s brow raised questioningly. “Deal?”

 

“ _Yeah. Deal. I help you...somehow, and you get me my body back. Then we’re out of each other’s great looking hair. Sound good, Cupcake?”_

Rhys nodded, ignoring the various nicknames. “Alright. -but if you try anything, and I mean anything - I’ll put you back in that drive and destroy it this time.”

 

Jack made an exaggerated x across his chest. “ _Want me to pinky promise too_?”

 

Rhys’s eyes rolled again. “I’m serious, Jack. No bullshit this time. I’m not plugging you into any system either. I’m not taking that chance again.”

 

“ _Rhysie, baby. I’m not going to try and kill you again. I’m not going to try and take Atlas from you either. I just want my damn body back so that I can go kill whatever asshole is running my company now_.” Jack paused for a moment. “ _I’m...guessing not all that many made it out of Helios alive, huh_?”

 

Rhys shook his head again, looking back down to the desk. “No...not all that many...”

 

Jack just gave a small nod, but didn’t say anything else on it. If he had another thought, he didn’t mention it.

 

Rhys glanced over to the time. It was getting late. Plus, he’d been locked away in his office for the past few hours. He glanced back to Jack. “Alright. I have to get some work done and then try and sleep. I’m um...I’m going to un-sync you from my eye and ear for the night, just until tomorrow. You can still do...whatever you do, inside of my watch...”

 

 

Jack made a face that Rhys knew meant he wasn’t keen on the idea of going back inside, but he just nodded.

 

 

“Alright. Well, um...good night then. I’ll, um...see you tomorrow morning.” Rhys added. Jack gave him another nod and disappeared from view. Rhys went ahead and de-synced the watch from his eye and ear piece. He didn’t need Jack walking around and talking while he tried to get some work done, let alone while he tried to sleep.

 

 

It was going to be a long night anyway. He needed to try and figure out a way that Jack could help. He’d been so caught up in bringing the AI “back to life” that he hadn’t really even thought about how or if Jack would be able to help.

He’d let the thoughts of “why in the world did I bring him back?” eat at him later. He had plenty of work to do now.

 

•

 

Rhys peeled his eyes open the rest of the way as they caught the faint light from the window breaking through a small gap. He’d stayed up much later than he’d meant to - trying to justify his action of bringing the Jack AI back to metaphorical life. He’d come up with an idea, but there would be no way to know if it would work for sure without testing it first. Unfortunately, testing it would mean somehow getting the AI to Maliwan’s main console that controlled the digistructors. Before even thinking of how that would happen - he needed help writing the code that would be needed. Who better to help write a difficult piece of coding than the man who’d started out as a lowly programmer?

Well, (y/n) could definitely help...but Rhys still couldn’t bring himself to tell her what was going on. Plus, part of him was a bit hesitant on letting Jack know that she was even alive...and working personally with Rhys. He’d avoided the subject of her completely when Jack had mentioned not many surviving the crash. Maybe the AI’s memory had forgotten about her again. Rhys could only hope.

He just had to keep everything a secret from the two people...well, person and AI, that he was going to be working with closely. This definitely wasn’t going to be easy. He could already feel the stress headaches rising.

 

 

Rhys sat up in bed. He really loved this bed. It was far more comfortable than the one he’d spent years sleeping on in Helios. Granted, he figured it should be since he was a CEO, and no longer a low level employee.

His entire penthouse/apartment was done in blacks, steel greys, and dark reds. He’d realized he liked the feel and look of crushed velvet and had it adorning his headboard, bed set, and decorative pillows. His thick blankets were black with thin pinstripes of silver threads running through - they’d shimmer when the light hit them just right. With burgundy and black paisley sheets to go underneath. Sheer black drapes covered his large doubly reinforced windows that, when not closed off by a retractable thick metal shutter, looked over a fantastic view - while an elaborate futuristic, silver light fixture hung from the high ceiling. It was quite the attractive room, even though he never had any visitors in it.

(Y/n) of course, had been in several times, but never for anything much more than to wake Rhys up when he’d over sleep or to bring him something when he’d caught a cold - much against Rhys’s desirable hopes. Other than those hopes, Rhys had never cast much time into trying to find a significant other. Honestly, he just didn’t have the time to try and find someone that didn’t just want him for his title and money. The woman he had his sights on, had never seemed to feel the same way he did. Until the other day...when she’d kissed him. He still couldn’t get that moment out of his head.

 

He tugged his legs over the edge of the bed and placed his feet on the white furry rug that lied beneath his large bed. He sleepishly walked across the cool stone floor to his bathroom and began his usual routine to make himself presentable. His mustache was starting to come in again. Maybe he’d let it grow out this time.

 

•

 

After his shower and the near 15 minute process of drying and styling his hair - he walked out of his apartment into the mostly dark, two-doored hallway. His room sat at one end, while (Y/n)’s sat at the other. They’d both considered buying their own places to live in the city, but had decided against it - seeing as it was easier to just live where they spent most of their time anyway. The main Atlas headquarters had been designed by Rhys to accommodate them in enough luxury anyway.

 

The door to (Y/n)’s apartment was closed. Not telling if she was still sleeping or already working. Probably the second, Rhys _had_ overslept by an hour or so.

 

•

 

Sure enough, as he walked out of the elevator - he could her taking to the Commander and receiving the night’s reports. A job that Rhys usually handled, but she’d beat him to it today.

She looked up with a small smile as Rhys entered the room that held the main console, along with the giant reinforced windows that looked out over the city. He could smell the brewed coffee and helped himself to a cup as she finished her call.

 

“Late night?” She asked, leaning her head to the side to look around the hologram map still being projected from the now ended call.

 

Rhys glanced over the rim of his mug, giving a nod in response. Thankful they still had coffee. Imports were halted now, they’d only have these luxuries for a few more months at best. Another thought that bothered him to think about. That this... _war_...could still be going in a few months time.

 

“What were you working on?” (Y/n) asked as she walked around to the front of the holo-console, leaning back on it.

She always looked remarkably pretty. Wavy hair - loosely curling around her shoulders, and eyes always done up to make them look even more alluring. Heels, nylon stockings, a form fitting skirt and button down top -tucked in, in whatever color she chose for the day. Today was matte maroon, with black buttons to match the skirt. She didn’t need to wear heels and the whole business attire, but she’d always said she felt most comfortable that way. Rhys often wondered if she missed being the one completely in charge. She’d done a damn good job at it, even with everything she was secretly going through. He admired her strength - just not when she was using it to be stubborn about possibly getting herself killed by Maliwan. “ _At least she wasn’t wearing heels that day_...” Rhys chuckled at his own thoughts.

 

(Y/n)’s brow raised. Right. She had asked a question. “I’m sorry...still waking up. What did you say?” Rhys asked, rubbing at his face.

 

“I asked... What were you working on?” She repeated herself.

 

“I was...going through old designs. Seeing if I could come up with anything that would help.” It’s not that he wanted to lie to her, but he knew he couldn’t just spring the existence of the AI on her. -Shit. The AI.

“I have an idea though, so I’m going to try and keep working on that..” Rhys stood and gave a small smile before swinging around the corner to head to his office.

 

•

 

He closed his door again and sat down at his desk. His fingers lightly shook as he paired his watch to his eye again.

 

He waited for a moment.

 

Jack flickered into view - stretching his arms over his head. Rhys noticed him glance over to the clock. “ _Little late, huh buddy? Sleep well_?” Jack asked in his usual smartass-y tone.

 

Rhys took another sip from his mug and sat it down - pulling up the Echoscreen projection from his palm with a small yawn. “Think you can still write code?” He asked, not even looking up from the projection.

 

He heard Jack make a noise indicating that he found that question humorous. “ _Oh pleas- do you even know who you’re talking to, Cupcake? Of course, I still know how to write code._ ” The hologram flickered and reappeared next to Rhys. “ _Why_?”

 

Rhys finally looked up from from his screen to make eye contact with the blue man. “Because...I think if we can write a code that will disable the digistructing tech that Maliwan is using, it’ll at least let The Lance get their footing back. Maliwan is sure to find it and eradicate it soon enough, yeah...but even a temporary setback would help right now. I can always tweak the code and implant it again later down the line if needed.”

 

Jack nodded back. He seemed to be in business mode now. No joking or making smartass comments. Rhys knew what was on line here. His company, and Jack’s body. He couldn’t begin to imagine what it must feel like to the AI. To know your real, and _alive_ body is somewhere out there - while you’re stuck being a hologram. He did know what it felt like to have his company dangling over an edge and trying everything he could to hoist it back up, though - and if bringing Jack back to life, the real Jack, wasn’t evidence enough at how far he’d go...he didn’t know what else would be.

 

“ _Alright. So you want me to write the code? How am I supposed to do that_?” Jack motioned by waving his holographic hand through the top of Rhys’s desk.

 

Rhys sighed. “Right...um-“

 

The com built into Rhys’s desk fizzed to life - stopping Rhys mid-thought.

“Rhys, I’m finished backing everything up from the main database. It’s all on the drives now. I just have to make a copy and secure them. Now if Maliwan does somehow get in here, we can just remotely reset the whole thing and wipe it clean.”

 

Rhys’s heart immediately began thumping - he could feel it in his throat. He glanced to Jack, who didn’t seem to recognize the voice. Probably because of the slight robotic fuzzy sound that always came in on the overlay.

“That’s great! Now hopefully we just don’t have to ever do that...”

 

(Y/n) chuckled back, “Yeah, you’re telling me.”

The fizzling of the com ended - indicating that she’d closed the call and gone back to whatever she was doing.

 

Rhys cleared his throat to continue talking - glancing back over to Jack when his words were halted again. Jack’s expression was now lighter. He was smirking, with his his brows raised expectantly.

Rhys blinked a few times as he could feel his heart thudding again. “Um....what...?” He asked - trying to play dumb, still looking over at Jack, albeit probably looking a bit worried now.

 

“ _Got yourself a girl working for ya, huh? She your assistant? Pretty_?” Jack asked with one raised brow, nearly giving Rhys that ‘ _ole elbow jab_ ’ if he could. “ _Well come on, Rhysie...don’t hold out on me. I saw how red you turned when her voice popped up, eh_?” His tone had risen in pitch, he seemed rather amused at this.

 

Rhys’s heart hadn’t stopped thumping yet. What the hell was he going to say? _Play it cool, play it cool_. Rhys attempted to shrug it off. “Nah, she’s just...my business partner-”

 

“ _Yeahhh, but ya like her, right? Gotten very far with her? What, does the whole ‘handsome, rich CEO thing’ not work for her?_ ” Jack asked, still holding his smirk.

 

Rhys nearly melted at that question. _Why yes, the handsome, rich CEO thing is actually right up her alley_. He definitely couldn’t say that, though. Rhys could feel the heat in his cheeks. Jack didn’t need to know _who_ she was - maybe just playing along would sate his curiously and he’d move back to the code topic. “She’s...” Rhys began. He needed to choose his words carefully, but still sound convincing. “...really pretty, but I don’t think she thinks of me as much more than a business partner. So, doesn’t really matter. Anywa-“

 

“ _Nah, nah...we can get back to that in a minute. You don’t_ ** _think_** _, or you_ ** _know_** _that she doesn’t want you? You ever asked? Ever tried anything? I mean, come on Rhys...some of these women just like to play hard to get. You gotta try something sometimes_.”

 

“I kissed her once.” Rhys blurted out without thinking. Immediately regretting it as he saw the pleased look on Jack’s face.

 

“ _Ah, annnd? Did she kiss back_?” His tone definitely showed how amused he was at this topic. He’d teased Rhys years ago when he was in his head about the girls, telling Rhys that he needed to get laid to relieve that built up stress. Plus, he’d be in his head while it happened so a win-win for everyone. That of course, did not happen.

 

Rhys rolled his eyes. “Do we- do we really have to talk about this? It’s really not important..”

 

Jack sighed. “ _Rhysie, baby...I’ve been locked up for years with no one to talk to. Nothing interesting to see or do. This is better than sex. Actually, no. Sex is pretty damn nice. So come on, did she_?” His smirk had turned into his devious smile now. His eyes mirroring his interest in this gossip of Rhys’s love life...or lack there of.

 

He could tell Jack wasn’t going to drop this. Rhys let out a sigh as well - giving a slight nod. 

 

“ _Oh ho ho! Really? Well there ya go, Cupcake! She kissed back, then maybe she does like you a little more than you thought, huh_?”

 

Rhys let out a small chuckle. Even with how stressed he was, with this conversation just adding on to it - Jack’s animated personality and want to get Rhys the girl he obviously has a thing for, was pretty humorous. He could imagine having Jack as an actual friend would be difficult to keep up with. He was probably one of those friends that always tried to hook you up so that you could be having as much sex as he was. Maybe in another life Rhys wouldn’t have minded something like that. He’d only had a few relationships in his time - and the majority of people that he’d try and flirt with would seem into him until he said something nerdy and accidentally showed off his dorky personality.

 

“ _Alright, alright. Just, tell me it’s not that Sarah or Sandra...what- what was her name? That snappy sister that was way too trigger happy_?”

 

Rhys let out a small laugh. “Sasha? No. I haven’t seen her in years. Sasha was just a friend, anyway.”

 

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “ _It’s not the other one, is it? She seemed...eh, a little rough around the edges. The hat was a nice touch though_.”

 

Rhys, again, rolled his eyes. “I do know more than two women, Jack. I happen to have plenty of women that work for me as well - and no, before you ask, I’m not interested in any of them. This ones just...different.”

 

Jack chuckled a little. “ _Different how_?”

 

Rhys shrugged. “I don’t know... she’s-“

 

Just then the door to his office slid open revealing the very same woman of topic. He’d forgotten to lock it this time. _Shit_.

 

He could see Jack’s jaw just about drop from the corner of his eye. His heart definitely felt like it was going to explode now. He dared a glance over to the blue man. Jack just stood perfectly still - other than the occasional glitch of the hologram - starting at the woman who was now walking up to Rhys’s desk. Jack’s eyes were glued on to her. His expression was unreadable.

 

“Who are you talking to?” (Y/n) asked with a raised brow, stopping in front of the desk.

 

Rhys had only barely heard her over the pounding of his heartbeats and the panic ensuing in his mind. “Um. No one. I- um.. just myself. Talking out loud.” He gave a fake chuckle.

 

She smiled back with an eye roll. “Alright...well I just came to give you a copy of the data. Please don’t lose it..” she said handing the drive to him and looking at the mess of boxes still all over the floor. “Same unlock code as always.”

 

Rhys nodded - taking the drive and slipping it into his interior vest pocket. “Got it. Thanks.” He smiled, trying to come off as calm as he could. He could still see Jack out of the corner of his eye, but just barely. He hadn’t moved.

 

She nodded back. “No problem. I’ve got to take the other one downstairs. Just figured I’d bring that one to you on my way down.” She turned to leave, stopping as she got to the door. “Try not to forget to eat today.” With that she slipped out, closing the door behind her.

 

Rhys took a deep-deep breath in, closing his eyes and slowly letting it back out. He reopened them to see Jack staring directly at him. Rhys’s eyes widened for a second.

 

“Look Jack, I-“

 

“ _You crash my space station, you send me to a black abyss, steal_ ** _my_** _deed to Atlas,_ ** _and then_** _...you steal my girl too_.” Jack’s voice was unnervingly calm, only strongly enunciating certain words. He paused for a moment, shaking his head. “ _I thought she died. Ya know, when the space station she was on crashed into Pandora_.”

 

Rhys kept quiet for a beat.

“I didn’t steal her, Jack. I saved her life. She was passed out in the wreckage. So I brought her back to the Gortys facility with me. She didn’t have anywhere else to go...she agreed to stay and help me rebuild Atlas.”

 

“ _Ah. So, it’s like a Stockholm thing? She didn’t have anywhere to go...eventually she fell for you_.” He added, with much more attitude now.

 

“Wha- no. Okay- Look, Jack. Her and I aren’t together. She works with me. That’s it. Besides that, she stopped being ‘ _your girl_ ’ when you went down to Pandora and ‘ _died_ ’ in that vault you cared so much about.” He wasn’t going to make a jab - really, Jack did have the right to be surprised about this - but his attitude made Rhys instantly try to defend himself. That defense coming off more offensive, than he’d meant it to.

 

Jack’s brow had raised, as had the sass in his tone. Rhys would call him out for appearing jealous, but he really didn’t want to jeopardize the possible one chance he has at slowing Maliwan down. “ _You said she kissed you back, there’s obviously something there_...kiddo.” Kiddo, had a snap to it this time. If Jack had his body back now - Rhys imagined he’d already be at the bad end of a gun.

 

Rhys let out a sigh. “It was once. Just the other day, actually. I stopped her from going out there,” he motioned towards the window. “and doing something stupid. I kissed her first...she kissed back. She hasn’t said anything about it since, and acts like it never even happened.” Rhys paused, looking back to Jack now. “She’s been with me for nearly three years and nothing more has ever happened between us. She doesn’t want me Jack, she never has. She still loves you.”

 

Jack’s brows furrowed. His narrowed eyes stayed locked with Rhys’s. He looked a bit shocked...maybe even confused.

 

“Oh, come on Jack.” Rhys said, leaning back in his chair and waving his hand through the air a bit. “...You can’t seriously act like you didn’t know that.”

Jack’s brows stayed pulled together, as he glanced down at the ground seemingly in thought. Rhys leaned forward a little now, just watching him.

“She never told you...?”

 

Jack’s eyes sprang back to Rhys’s before looking away again. He shook his head, just a little. “ _No...she didn’t. Wasn’t really ever something we talked about. At least, neither of us brought it up_.” He paused for a moment before meeting Rhys’s gaze again. “ _She told you that_?”

 

Rhys gave a small, slow shrug. “She...accidentally did one time. It...slipped when she was talking about you.”

 

Jack’s gaze held for a moment before dropping away again. “ _She doesn’t know you kept the eye, does she_?”

 

“No... I never told her. Honestly, I _never_ thought I’d bring you back.” Rhys shook his head, mostly at himself.

 

“ _You’re gonna have to tell her, Rhysie_.” Jack’s tone had changed again. He no longer sounded like he wanted to kill Rhys. That was good, at least. Telling (y/n) about all of this...not so good.

 

Rhys shook his head. “No. No, I can’t. She’ll hate me.”

 

Jack just shrugged. “ _I’ll give you a week. She’s bound to somehow notice you acting weird and ask why_.”

 

Rhys just huffed and looked back to his desk. Unfortunately, Jack was probably right. She usually saw through most things.

 

•

 

The next few days went as hectic as Rhys had figured they would. He’d agreed to let Jack stay synced after Jack said that Rhys owed him for trying to steal his woman. Morning to night - Rhys had Jack bobbing around, making smartass comments about this and that, and staring off at (y/n) when she happened to be in the same room as them. He’d already asked plenty of questions about how she’d been, how much of Atlas she was behind, what all she’d said about him, as well as numerous other random things.

 

They’d begun working on writing the code. It was going a bit slow. Jack would have to explain each little thing for Rhys to do, since he couldn’t just do it himself. Rhys was not a programmer. He could hack and he could read code...but he wasn’t so hot at writing it. Much to Jack’s annoyance - and much to Rhys’s annoyance, Jack made a point of letting Rhys know how annoying this all was.

 

•

 

Six days into code writing and it was finally just about finished.

Rhys had been juggling the stress of having Jack being....well, Jack -all day, everyday- trying to seem as normal as possible so that (Y/n) didn’t find him suspicious, getting the code written, and everything that came along because of this war with Maliwan.

 

Rhys, surprisingly, felt like he was handling it all rather well. Jack’s stream of random banter kept the mood from getting too tense. While (y/n) had taken it upon herself to keep busy with everything Atlas still needed to protect.

 

•

 

The door to Rhys’s office slid open, halting his and Jack’s conversation. (Y/n) walked right up to his desk and stopped. One hand placed on her hip.

 

“Okay. So, show me.” She said with a deadpan expression.

 

Rhys stuttered, trying not to look too surprised. “Sh-show...show you what?”

 

“ _Smoooooth_.” Jack chuckled next to him.

 

Rhys’s eyes naturally glared over to the holographic man, before moving back to (y/n).

 

(Y/n) rolled her eyes, tilting her head sarcastically. “Whatever it is you’ve been working on. You’ve practically been in here day and night for the past week. I could’ve left and gone after Katagawa himself, before you even knew I was gone.” She paused for a moment scrunching her lip a bit - probably wondering why she hadn’t tried something like that. “Anyway...” She motioned generally to Rhys for him to answer.

 

Jack had now wandered closer to (y/n), standing right next to her with a smug smirk. His brows raised to Rhys - seemingly waiting to see how badly he was going to mess up trying lie about what they’d been working on.

Rhys eyes glanced from (y/n)’s to Jack’s a couple times as he tried to think quickly.

 

“Um...” Rhys began trying to think as quickly as he could. “I’ve...been working on finding a way to shut down Maliwan’s digistructors.” _Whew...not a lie, at least._

 

Her brow had raised now, giving a look of ‘go on..’ “Annnnnd? Have you found a way?” She asked.

 

Rhys’s stomach was flopping around. “Uhmm...kind of... it-it..it’s nothing solid yet though..” he managed to stumble out the lie.

 

Her eyes narrowed, and then she looked to her right. Jack’s eyes widened as she looked directly at him - quickly looking back to Rhys. “ _She can’t see me, right_?”

Rhys’s eyes had also widened instantly.

 

“What are you looking at?” She asked, moving her eyes back to Rhys.

 

“Uh- Wha-what?” Rhys asked, legitimately not hearing her over his pounding heart.

 

“What. Are. You looking at? You keep glancing next to me. There’s nothing there.” Her eyes narrowed even further. “Or is there?”

 

“ _Haha...oh boy. Told ya_.” Jack began laughing. Rhys forced his eyes to not accidentally look towards him.

 

Rhys began shaking his head, as he half pointed in the direction she was referring to. “The clock. I was just checking the time..“

 

(Y/n) glanced over her shoulder and to the clock. She turned her head back to Rhys - eyes still narrow. “You have a clock in your eye, and on your wrist.”

 

Rhys gave a shrug - playing it cool. “Yeah, but I have to activate the one in my eye and it’s just easier to glance over at that one.”

 

“Yeah. Sure.” She paused for a moment - eyeing Rhys. “You’ve been acting strange. I get it, if you’re stressed but... This isn’t about that kiss is it?”

 

“No!” Rhys’s voice nearly cut her off. “I mean, no...it’s not. I- ...it’s not.” Rhys shrugged again. “I’m fine, I’m just working on...this thing.” He motioned to his holoscreen.

 

“So, show me what you’ve got so far.” She quickly replied.

 

“I-I...really don’t have much to show yet-“

 

“Fine. I’m not going to waste my time trying then.” She huffed as she turned and walked out of the room.

 

 

Rhys let out a sigh burying his head in his hands as the door slid shut again. He let out a groan.

“What am I supposed to do...?” He asked out loud - to no one other than himself.

 

“ _As I’ve already said, kiddo. You’re going to have to tell her. You’re really not good at lying.”_ Jack chuckled _. “Either you tell her, or she figures it out on her own. Just a hint, in case you’re too dumb to guess. That, will piss her off much more_.”

 

Rhys raised his head from its hand cradle. “I can’t. You saw how mad she just got at that, and that was nothing compared to telling her you’re back.” He paused for a moment, dropping his head back into his hands. “...that _I_ brought you back.”

 

Jack let out a sigh, although he seemed to be finding some humor in Rhys’s dilemma.

“ _Alright. Look at it this way. You could keep lying to her and keep up this odd, relationship you’ve formed. While you lie to her daily and pretend you destroyed me two years ago. Completely losing any chance of having me for help. ‘Cause, uh...I’m on her side.”_ Jack gave a smug smirk and a shrug _. “Or...You could do the right thing, and tell her the truth. Keep me as an ally and run the risk of her being mad, annnnd possibly leaving your ass for a hologram_. _Completely up to you, Rhysie. Either choice has the options of her appreciating your honesty and sticking with you....orrrr like I said, leaving your ass. Total toss up, kiddo. But I know which one I’m rooting for_. “

 

“Fine. You’re right..” Rhys grumbled, letting his head fall to the desk’s surface.

 

“ _Well, duh_.” Jack chimed in.

 

Rhys lifted his head, solely to glare at the blue man. Jack’s smug expression definitely wasn’t helping this.

Rhys sat up - rolling his chair back, and standing.

 

“ _Look at you! Doin the right thing. Sorry if she’s pissed at you...no wait...I’m really not.”_ Jack gave another small shrug.

 

Rhys glared again.

“But you have to keep your word on helping me. Or I’ll yank you and-“

 

“ _Destroy me. Yeah, yeah...I know_.” Jack just about rolled his eyes.

 

“I’m not taking you with me.” Jack turned back, brow raising to Rhys’s statement. “No. I’m telling her by myself. I’ll be back soon.”

Rhys un-synced his eye before he could hear Jack’s protests.

 

•

 

Rhys made his way down the hall and to the open door of (y/n)’s own office. He’d been trying to think of what to say from the moment he’d walked out of his. Being that their doors were only several meters apart - he hadn’t come up with a single thing he felt was good enough to go with.

He let out a quiet sigh, resting his head against the cool metal doorframe. “ _Better to just tell her the truth like it is_..” he grumbled in his own thoughts.

 

She was looking down, writing and then typing. She hadn’t even noticed Rhys standing in the doorway.

He could turn away, try again some other day. He shook his head at those thoughts. Unfortunately, Jack was right. Even if Jack just wanted her to know so that she’d be upset with Rhys. At least, that’s what Rhys figured. It’s not like the Jack AI would be able to talk to her...or touch her. Maybe Jack just wanted to see what she’d do when she found out. 

He’d watched the hurt in her eyes when she’d first learned of the AI being ‘ _gone_.’ He knew he wasn’t prepared for whatever her reaction would be to finding out that it isn’t gone.

 

He took in a deep breath and stepped though the threshold.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? Lots of dialog >_<  
> I’m going to try and have the next chapter not be as talky, but I already know it’s going to have a bit as well. Kind of has to, to explain what’s going on. 
> 
> It’s winding down now, though. Might only have a few more chapters left. O_O 
> 
> I’m wanting to have it finished by the time Borderlands 3 comes out. I still have some time ^_^  
> I’ve got the basic of what I want the rest of the fic to be, just have to fill in all the in between parts. 
> 
> So yeah, sorry this chapter is kind of meh >_<
> 
> Leave me some comments, though! They really do brighten my day! 💛
> 
> -also, I found it kind of funny writing all the shit-talk about Maliwan guns. Since my two favorite gun types to play with are Hyperion and Maliwan 💙🧡 ^_^


	32. A Welcomed Change

You glanced up at hearing a quiet noise to Rhys stepping into the room. You met his gaze for a moment and then returned to your writing.

 

You couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed at him. He’s kept himself held up in his office for nearly a week, and won’t even tell you what he’s been working on. You could tell he was lying. You just weren’t sure about what. Rhys has never been able to lie convincingly to you. Almost to a comical level. This however, wasn’t funny. With everything happening out in the city, and his demand that you stay inside and safe - you’d figured he was working on something to get a step up on Maliwan. If that was the case though, why was he refusing to let you know anything about it? Who was he talking to when you’d hear him outside of his office door? You’d begun to wonder if he was making some of a deal with Katagawa, and that’s why he was being so secretive. If so, he was right to be worried what you’d think. After everything the two of you had been through to build Atlas back up - and he just goes and signs it away? No. You wouldn’t let him do that.

Honestly, you couldn’t really see him doing that either though. He’d have to be desperate to do something so rash.

 

•

 

You could see him standing in front of your desk out of your peripheral vision. Just...standing there. He hadn’t said anything yet as he watched you continue to make notes and type things in on your computer.

You glanced up for a moment - seeing him fidgeting with his fingers.

 

“What, Rhys?” You said, deadpanned - setting your pen down and intertwining your hands on top of your desk.

 

His brow furrowed a bit. You could tell he was trying to think of how to start whatever it was that he wanted to say. He cleared his throat after a moment.

“I’m...I’m sorry that I’ve seemed so distant lately. It’s just that- ...after I stopped you from going out there the other day- ..You said that I needed to figure out something or you wouldn’t stay inside for much longer. I- ...I don’t want you to be held up in here...but I really, really don’t want you to die...”

 

His gaze had shifted back and forth between you and the desk as he talked through his thoughts in staggered sentences.

 

You let out a small sigh - relaxing your muscles a bit. “Why did you kiss me that day, Rhys?” You’d wanted to ask for days, but also really didn’t want to bring it back up. Neither of you had mentioned it, but Rhys had been acting strange since it’d happened.

 

His eyes widened a bit. Obviously not expecting that question. “I...I don’t really know. I mean, because I wanted to...but why then? I guess, because of the way you were looking up at me. Because I’ve wanted to so many times over the last couple of years...or, because I was afraid you’d leave and get killed... I don’t know. I never did before because I knew how you still feel about Jack.”

 

You nodded back. Letting his words sink in. You’d known he had some sort of feelings for you for quite awhile. He wasn’t the best at hiding them. However, he’d never tried anything. Then again, with how much he knew of you and Jack’s past relationship - you weren’t surprised.

“I guess those are good enough reasons.” You sighed quietly. “Maybe it is time I let go of him...” you let a deep, shaky breath out. It honestly hurt to say that out loud. You’d thought it plenty of times, but always pushed it to the back of your mind. It was never something you liked to think about.

You looked back to Rhys - who looked even more nervous now.

 

“What?” You asked raising your brow.

 

“I...I need to tell you something.” He said quickly. Like he had to force it out in one breath or he wouldn’t be able to get it out at all.

 

“Then tell me.” You said. Your tone sounding slightly annoyed again. You tried to lessen that, but you’d been asking Rhys to tell you what’s been going on and had been continuously getting nothing from him all week.

 

He took in a rather long deep breath, before letting it back out. “I _have_ been working on a way to slow Maliwan down...but, I’ve had some help.” He paused for a moment. Your brows had pulled together now - waiting for him to continue. “Um... a couple years ago when Helios...fell... I- I didn’t get rid of my old echo eye...”

 

You waited for a moment, but he seemed to be waiting for you to acknowledge what he’d said. “Okay? Why does that matt-“ Your eyes widened as you instantly realized what he was saying. Your heart began pounding as it felt like the entire floor beneath you began cracking and falling away. Simultaneously, feeling a rush of excitement flow though you.

You noticed him swallow a gulp. “You...you were looking at something next to me...weren’t you?” Your voice barely above a whisper now.

 

He slightly nodded - looking back down at your desk.

 

“You said... you told me he was gone!” Your voice had raised now. You could feel anger rising in you now - and the instant sting of realizing he’d lied to you. Rhys’s eyes had snapped back to your fiery gaze now.

 

“I know...but he _was_ gone... I hadn’t ever planned on bringing him ba-“ he began, keeping his voice low.

 

“Two years, Rhys! No...over two years! You told me he was gone! You’ve let me believe all this time that he couldn’t come back! You lied to me! All this time...” your voice had begun to crack. You were trying your best to keep the anger - to not let it turn into sadness - to stay strong. Your chest was pounding. You could hear the thudding in your ears - feel the blood pumping in your head. Almost echoing the sound of your heart.

 

Rhys’s eyes are what broke your resolve. A tear fell from your eye as you looked into his. He looked broken, scared that you were going to leave because of this. “I’m sorry...” he said quietly. “I couldn’t tell you at first...I knew you’d just want me to bring him back. I couldn’t do that... he was rampant... Over the years, I forgot about it most days. Forgot I even still had the eye hidden away. I never planned on bringing him back out...”

 

“Then why now..? Why now?” You asked shakily.

 

Rhys let his eyes close for a moment as he took in a breath and slowly exhaled. “To help save Atlas... He’s helping me write a code that he’ll be able to put into their systems to shut down the digistructors. At least temporarily.”

 

You realized you were standing now - every muscle tense. You let out a breath you hadn’t noticed you were holding in - letting your shoulders finally drop. He looked so defeated. Staring down, avoiding your gaze. You’d told him to figure something out or you would eventually leave to help fight. You never expected this is the extreme he’d go to. Even with all of your hurt and anger you were feeling - you hated seeing him like this.

He was right. You would’ve wanted him to bring the AI back. Without thought, you would’ve demanded it. Your mind wouldn’t have cared about any possible downside at that point. “ _How immature of me_..” you thought to yourself. Rhys had done the right thing at the time, but it had been years and he’d never mentioned even keeping the eye implant.

 

“Were you ever going to tell me...?” You asked, quieter now.

 

His gaze rose again. “I...I planned on it, eventually. It just...never seemed like the right time.” He scoffed to himself. “Then again, I guess there wasn’t really ever a _right time_..”

 

“How long? How long since you brought him back?” You asked, moving around the side of your desk and leaning a hip on it.

 

“A week.” He said simply.

 

You looked around you. You knew you wouldn’t be able to see anything, but you couldn’t stop your eyes from wandering. “Where is he?” You asked.

 

Rhys shook his head. “He’s not in here. I un-synced him. He’s...” he brought his wrist up, bringing the attention to his watch. “...in here right now.”

 

Your eyes locked on to the watch. The screen was lit up with a game of Pong(tm) in process. The little dot bouncing back and forth across the small screen.

“You didn’t put him back in your head...that’s- that’s probably a good thing. He’s...paired to your eye then..?” Rhys nodded. “...So only you can see him...” your eyes fell back down as you let out another deep breath.

You could hardly even feel your legs by now. Your heart was still thudding away, and honestly, you felt rather dizzy. You were surprised to realize that you weren’t as angry as you’d expect. Just...sad, and hurt.

You looked back up to meet Rhys’s gaze. He still looked rather sad, himself.

“I’d...like to be alone now.” You said quietly - turning away and rolling your chair back up to your desk to sit in.

 

He didn’t say anything more. You heard your door slide shut - and then the quietness of your office, and the loudness of your thoughts.

 

•

 

Any hope of getting anymore work done was shot to hell now. It’d been a couple hours since Rhys had left.

You’d replayed the conversation in your head a million times now. Thinking of what you could’ve said better, or how you could’ve been more upset. You were upset - definitely, but you couldn’t bring yourself to completely blame Rhys. Jack _had_ tried to kill him. You had even wanted to kill him, and if you would’ve known he still had the eye - you would’ve wanted the AI Jack to be brought back online. Every reason that Rhys had for keeping it a secret was understandable, in a calm state of mind. Something you hadn’t had often when dealing with anything about Jack since his death.

 

No, you couldn’t bring yourself to blame Rhys. Not in your rational mind, at least.

 

•

 

You wanted to go see this code they’d been working on, but you couldn’t convince yourself to walk into that office - knowing Jack was standing in it somewhere, unable to be seen.

Maybe it was best to just call it a night. It was getting late enough.

 

You stepped out of your office and walked down the hall towards the main room and the elevator. Rhys’s office door was closed. You were glad for a change. You knew you wouldn’t be able to not glance in as you walked past.

You rolled your eyes at yourself as the elevator door slid shut. A good nights sleep was what you needed. Even if it didn’t actually help anything, it would at least give you a few hours away from your thoughts.

 

•

 

You awoke the next morning as the light from the window finally soaked it’s way through your eyelids. You squeezed them shut again as you stretched underneath the warm comforter you were tucked in to. You slowly let them flutter open again - looking to the window and morning light. From this high up, you couldn’t see the destruction going on down below. You could almost imagine that there was no corporate war going on - that you could take a short ride through the city to your favorite coffee joint and sit outside laughing with some of the other regulars. You really liked Promethea. It reminded you of life on Helios - just more spread out. The day and night cycle was a bit to get used to at first, but the nights were your most favorite thing of all. The sky here was always on fire with stars and auroras that shined brilliantly against the dark blue and purple background. The occasional lit up spaceship or shuttle soaring though the sky to and from the large travel hub outside of main city. It was bittersweet - making you miss being up there too.

You could’ve left anytime. Told Rhys that it was time for you to move on. You’d helped him build Atlas back up. Your part of the deal was fulfilled, technically. You’d never wanted to though. Not after leaving Pandora, at least. You’d always felt like something was missing, but you’d grown used to knowing you’d probably never find it. There wasn’t really anything out there for you to go for anymore.

In simple terms, you were content. Not necessarily happy, not sad either.

 

You spent your usual couple of minutes staring out of the window from your warm bed, before you gave another stretch and pulled the blankets off of you.

You really had no desire to rush down to work today. A part of you just wanted to lie in bed all day, wallow in your uneasiness about the news you’d learned of last night - but that would just annoy you after awhile of feeling like you were wasting time.

 

You leaned over and picked your Echo up. A little notification indicated a few unread messages. You scrolled through the unimportant ones and read through the night’s report from the Commander. Another attack had been deflected, but Watershed Base had finally been taken. You let out a sigh, closing out of the messages. You’d respond later. She’d see that you read it. Another from Rhys.

 

**> Have more news you’ll want to hear. Just whenever you’re ready, no rush. **

No rush, must have meant it wasn’t overly important. You’d already read about Watershed, so it couldn’t be too much worse than that. You grumbled at that thought. It definitely could be worse than that. A lot worse, but Rhys didn’t make it seem urgent - so, he could wait for a bit longer.

 

You tossed the Echo device on the fluffy, golden-yellow comforter and walked over to your bathroom. A shower sounded nice. A way to hopefully wash away the heavy feeling of yesterday.

You twisted the knob, standing back for a moment until the water reached the ideal temperature. The large shower head you’d picked out simulated the falling of rain perfectly. Some nights you’d sit in the water flow for what seemed like hours - reading, working (on waterproof devices) or just relaxing after a long day. It was only the morning, but it already felt like a very long day.

 

After awhile, you stepped out and dried off. You wrapped the towel around you and walked over to your automatic hair dryer. It was a simple machine. Just stand under it, place your head inside and turn it on. The warm air would swirl around, drying your hair in just a couple of minutes - with no arm ache from holding a handheld dryer up for five times as long.

A fresh face and new outfit for the day, and you were ready. Well, you looked ready at least. You didn’t feel ready though. With another glance out of the window - you could see one of Maliwan’s flying transports floating around in the city below. Ready to drop off more troops wherever needed. A small growl escaped your chest at the sight.

 

Right. This wasn’t about you. This wasn’t about the AI. Maliwan needed to be stopped.

You slid your sexiest heels on and headed out. Might as well look good, right?

 

•

 

You’d like to think that the small pep talk you gave yourself all the way to Rhys’s office had calmed your nerves, but it definitely hadn’t.

You sucked in a deep breath - slowly letting it back out as you rounded the corner to his office door.

Just as you stepped in front of it, the door slid open. You swallowed the lump in your throat and looked up. Not one, but two pairs of eyes stared back at you from Rhys’s desk. Your mouth fell open as your hands went limp - dropping your Echo and hearing it clatter as it hit the hard metal floor.

Stunned. Paralyzed. Speechless. All would be acceptable for just a sliver of what you were feeling the moment your eyes fell upon the holographic form of the man you knew all too well.

Your legs felt like rubber, but surprisingly, kept themselves strong enough to not fail you. You could hear your heart pounding, feel it beating against your chest - sending fireworks through your entire body. Still, you stood motionless. Unable to move or say a thing.

 

A slow smirk appeared on his blue lips as he stood up from leaning over Rhys’s chair. Your eyes caught the tiny hovering robot above him. A projector-bot. A fairly new Atlas design. You’d never have expected it to be able to run such a complex program though - a fully operational AI. He moved around the side of the desk, so effortlessly - and began walking towards you.

Not that you’d been able to move yet, but instantly every one of your muscles froze again. Only your eyes moving as they watched each step the blue man took. He walked exactly like Jack. The same posture, the same aura that Jack had always given off - always awakening the flutters throughout your stomach.

Tall. He was tall. You’d almost forgotten that he was slightly taller than Rhys - much taller than you. Your eyes studied every inch as he got closer. It was a perfect copy - just blue and partially transparent. You felt as if your heart was going to explode any minute. Either that, or you were going to pass out. Neither of which sounded preferable, but holy shit - you weren’t prepared for this.

Rhys must have done this. For you... He could see Jack through his implant - there was need for him to hook the AI up to a projector.

 

You realized your lips were pulled into a soft smile as the Jack AI came to stop in front of you. You could feel your stomach doing flips. Of happiness? Of excitement? You really weren’t sure. The feelings were so overwhelming - you could hardly decipher what each one felt like in this moment. The last time you’d felt any semblance to these feelings was the day Helios fell. When this same AI had appeared on your holoscreen to say-

 

“Hey, sweetheart..” his voice purred the words. _His voice_. It felt as if your heart skipped several beats - if not entirely coming to a stop at the sound. You could feel your entire body shudder, the crashing of overjoyed butterflies in your stomach.

Words weren’t coming. Not a single impulse from your brain, telling you to say something. Your smile just grew. The heat of your cheeks becoming noticeable now. You could see his eyes move between yours as his lips curved into a warm smile.

 

Rhys cleared his throat - pulling your eyes away from Jack for the first time since you’d walked through the door.

“We’re just about finished with the code. If...you want to see it?” He said with a small smile. “Just a few more things to tweak.”

 

You nodded, then glancing back to the hologram. His lips now curled into a small smirk. He took a step to the side - motioning with his arm for you to go ahead. You couldn’t help but smile back. This all felt so strange, yet so familiar. It would definitely take some time to get used to, but for once...it was a welcomed change.

 

•

 

You’d tried you best not to stare or smile the entire time Rhys...and Jack, explained the code and what they were planning for it. Each time Jack spoke, you could feel tingles run through your body. Hearing his voice again after so long was purely magical. Glancing over to see his eyes already on you was indescribable. Everything was the same. He sounded the same, talked the same, he even moved the same. It wasn’t the real Jack, but at this moment...you couldn’t remember feeling this happy since he was alive.

 

•

 

“So, once we input this program into his code...he can get it into Maliwan’s systems and it’ll shut it down...until they surely find it and fix it.” Rhys said as he turned his chair to face the two of you.

 

“And then what...?” You asked, thankful the talk of coding and hacking had made your brain work again.

 

“Annnnd then...his part of the deal is done-“

 

“What deal?” You asked rather quickly.

 

A look of realization came over Rhys.

“Which um...brings us to the next topic that needs to be addressed.” He said as he turned his chair back to his screen. “The _main_ reason I brought him back was because I found these attached to his code...” Rhys pointed to seven individual files that were now brought up on his screen.

 

You leaned forward, tapping on the first one. The audio began. You immediately recognized the voice. You’d only met Nakayama a couple times and it was usually to shoo him away from trying to get inside of Jack’s office - but you’d always kind of liked him. He was funny in an odd...stalker way.

 

You tapped through each audio file - eyes widening as each revealed its contents. Heart pounding as you listened to the words.

Your widened eyes stared back at Jack’s. He was calm. He already knew about all of this.

 

“You...” your voice barely able to get above a shaky whisper. “...didn’t die...”

 

The blue man shook his head, keeping his gaze on yours.

 

“Where did you find these?” You asked, looking back to the screen.

 

“ _In Helios’s database right before it crashed. Locked wayyyy deep inside_.” Jack responded.

 

You shook your head. “That’s...impos- ..I had full access to Helios’s systems. I never found them.”

 

“That’s because Hudson didn’t want them found.” Rhys added on as he tapped on the last audio file.

Hudson’s voice began playing - drawing out a scowl from you. God, you hated that man. You still wished you could’ve put a bullet in his head sooner than you had.

 

“... ** _Now I have Jack’s title, his space station, and his little secretary_**...” Hudson’s voice sneered through the speaker followed by his annoyingly proud laughter.

 

A wave of anger was rushing through you. The words he’d spoken as he was begging for his life - echoing in your mind.

 

“ ** _I...I know things! Locked away in the system. That no one else knows!  I know, because I had everyone else that knew killed! .....Th-th-They’re hidden. You won’t find them unless you know what to look for, and you won’t! Believe me, you of all people will want to know. I-i-if you kill me, you’ll never find out..._** ”

 

It all made sense now.

 

“It was right in front of me. All along. I searched and searched, but never found anything. I just thought he was bluffing...” you shakily growled out.

 

“(Y/n), what are you talking about?” Rhys asked, now looking at you.

 

“Hudson! Right before I killed him. He told me that he had information that I would want to know. Information that he’d hidden away. I just though he was bluffing so that I wouldn’t shoot him... I had it all along. I could’ve-“ your voice began to crack. “I could’ve...brought him back years ago... if I just would’ve listened..”

 

“ _No_...” Jack’s hand came up towards your shoulder, but phased right through. He pulled it back, glaring at it before softening his gaze on you again. “ _No. If you would’ve hesitated, he would’ve killed you instead, babe. He was bluffing. He never would’ve told you the truth. He was a coward_.”

 

You could feel tears forming in your eyes. You were furious - with yourself, with this entire situation, but mostly with Hudson. He’d wanted Hyperion so badly that he’d basically condemned Jack to death.

 

“ _(Y/n), look at me_.” Jacks voice hummed as his hands floated around your face. He seemed like he wanted so badly to touch - to feel you - and so angry that he couldn’t. “ _You didn’t know. **I** didn't_ _know. This isn’t your fault, Pumpkin_.”

 

Your heart soared and sunk at hearing that name. It was always one of your favorites that he called you. The memory of it being burned into your head as the last thing you’d heard him say while he was alive - but now, you knew he wasn’t really dead. He was alive. He _is_ alive! You wanted to scream and jump and giggle, while you twirled around in circles - but you also wanted to cry. Remembering how badly it hurt to find out that he wasn’t coming back from Pandora. Remembering how painful it was to go on with life, like nothing had ever happened between the two of you - to live like the memories weren’t killing you everyday. All for nothing. All of that pain that could’ve been avoided, if you’d just found those files. Helios would still be in the sky, Emily would still be alive, and you would’ve never lost Jack in the first place.

-but then....you’d probably never have met Rhys. Never have gotten to know him, or have gotten close to him. To help build a dead company back up to being more prosperous than it had ever been. To have gained a friendship with someone who had quite literally saved your life and kept you going when you’d lost literally everything.

 

Your mind was a tangled mess of thoughts. Every one of them screaming and pounding against your skull. You needed to get out of here. You needed to be alone.

 

“Give me the code and your notes. I’ll tweak it the rest of the way. I know what I’m doing, and it’ll go quicker without him having to tell you what to do.” You spoke up, meeting the eyes of both men.

 

“Um...are you alright, (y/n)?” Rhys asked. A worried expression coming across his and Jack’s face.

 

“I just need some time to think..or not think. Coding will help relax me.” You said back assuredly.

 

“Alright...just give me a sec to send it over to you.” He tapped on a few things. The “ _whoosh_ ” sound told that the file had sent. “There ya go.” He added on.

 

You gave a small nod and moved past the AI. You turned back as you got inside the doorway - stealing one more glance at the blue man. Your lips immediately curled into a soft smile. His returned it just as you slid out of the entrance and into the hallway.

 

•

 

You leaned your back against the wall of your office, sliding down until you were crouched on the floor. You just needed a breather. A long breather. That was Jack. You didn’t care if it was an AI. That was him. For so long, you’ve dreamed of seeing him again, and of hearing his voice. This almost didn’t feel real. This had to be a dream. Any moment now, you’d be woken up by the cruel reality of Jack still being dead. Actually dead.

 

You sat, crouched in that spot against the wall for minutes upon minutes. Just staring off at nothing. Waiting for this dream to end - but it never happened.

Jack is alive. _Alive_. _Touchable_. Somewhere on Pandora.

 

Maliwan... The code needed to be finished. That was the first step in saving Atlas. The first step in getting Jack back. The real Handsome Jack.

 

•

 

You sprang up from your spot on the floor. Aching legs, from the squished position, quickly carried you to your desk. You kicked off your heels underneath, undid the top couple of buttons on your blouse to be able to stretch a little, and brought up your holoscreen. The file was there, waiting for you to open it. Waiting to be completed.

You really hoped this worked. Maliwan was getting stronger every week.

 

•

 

The code was actually pretty complex. You’d figured Jack had done that purposely so that it’d be trickier for Maliwan to eradicate. If it could keep their digistructing systems offline for even a couple days - it would be a massive help.

It’d been awhile since you had worked on such complex programming. Atlas had an entire team that did that now. You’d find yourself checking over their work, and making sure nothing secret was being encoded. There hadn’t been any traitors in the workforce yet, but it was only a matter of time as Atlas continued to grow.

 

You’d been working on it for a couple of hours. The quietness of the room, and the attention that was needed to read each line and input equations, had calmed you down considerably. Your chest still seemed to vibrate with happiness - to the thoughts that you were purposely keeping at the back of your mind. You couldn’t think about Jack right now, or else you’d never get this program finished.

 

 

You looked up as you noticed a faint glow out of the corner of your eye. There stood the biggest distraction of them all. Leaning against, and partially through, the doorway to your office. An enchanting smirk played on his lips, with arms crossed across his chest. You immediately felt the fluttering again - not being able to hide your growing smile.

 

“Hi...” you spoke up shyly. You wanted to smack yourself for being so anxious, but this was still extremely overwhelming. You honestly weren’t sure how you should even act around this AI. He remembered you, sure. Called you Sweetheart and Pumpkin - but...where would you even pick up from?

 

He gave a small chuckle and walked forward - coming to stop in front of your desk. He glanced down at the round chair next to him and gave his shoulders a small shrug - taking a -mostly floating- seat in it. You couldn’t help your eyes from studying him. Your vision focusing on every little detail, bringing your memories of the real him to life again. His perfect hair, his eyes, his smirking lips, that look that showed he knew you were staring at him again... Shit.

_“_ _Same as always, huh_?” You thought to yourself as you pulled your eyes back to his gaze.

 

“ _I guess I can understand why you’re staring this time_. _Ya, know...other than the fact that I’m sexy as hell_.” He chuckled. _“I mean, I’ve gotten to see you for a week without you ever knowing I was there_.” His lips were still curved into that devious smile you remembered.

 

You let out a quiet breath you didn’t realize you’d been holding in. “Lovely...” you mumbled - immediately wondering what you’d looked like and everything you said for the last week.

 

He let out a small laugh. “ _You haven’t changed. Well, other than all of these badass things I’ve heard about you doing_.” His brows raised, with his smile growing enough to show off his canines. He began holding up fingers. “ _Killing Hudson? I gotta say I would’ve never expected that from you. It’s pretty friggin hot though_.” You could feel your cheeks reddening and your smile growing as he listed off other things he’d been told about. “ _Killing him, taking his place and running Helios - hell, all of Hyperion, and then helping Pretty-boy here rebuild Ole’ Atlas. You’ve done quite a lot since I’ve been gone_..”

 

“I had my parents killed too.” You smiled back, bursting out in a quiet laugh as Jack’s expression turned to surprise.

 

“ _Real_ _l_ _lllllly?”_ His smile grew. _“Well, they were assholes. Wait..._ ** _had_** _them killed? You didn’t do it yourself?”_ _  
_

You shook your head, frowning a bit. “No. I didn’t step foot back on Pandora until Helios fell.” You gave a small chuckling scoff. “You can imagine how disappointed I was that I didn’t get to do it myself. The video was pretty entertaining to see though.”

 

Jack let out a bark of laugher - shaking his head a little. “ _God, it is different to hear you say something like that, Pumpkin_ _._ _I like it, don’t get me wrong._ _I_ _really like it_ _._ _Just...different_.”

 

You smiled, looking down at your desk. Here you were taking about literally having your parents murdered and you were still shying at having Jack’s gaze on you.

“I...I didn’t think Rhys would give you so much access to walk around...” you decided to get the topic off of you before your entire face went red.

 

He gave a small shrug. “ _Eh. I can’t really do anything. Plus, I promised I wouldn’t even if I could. I don’t get my body back if I piss him off_.” He bounced his brows with a smirk. “ _He went to go sleep for awhile. He’s been up for a couple days. Sooo, I came to see you and distract you from your work_.”

 

You rolled your eyes with a laughing grin. “As always. I never could get anything done with you hanging over my desk.”

 

His smirk grew into a fully amused grin. “ _Aw, why not, babe? Were my good looks too distracting for you? Was it my eyes, or my faaaaantastic smile_?”

 

You couldn’t help but giggle. “Both...but definitely your eyes.” You tried to stop smiling, but you just couldn’t. All of the nervousness and anxiety at how to act had washed away. It was just you and Jack - being Jack.

 

“ _Oh yeah_?” He purred, giving you a slow wink that lit a fire throughout your chest and caused your butterflies to explode in flutters.

 

You cooled yourself down quickly, hoping you hadn’t given away how much that wink had melted you. “It’s a shame though..” his brow raised, waiting for you to continue. “...in this form, your eye isn’t green.”

 

He let out a small chuckle. “Was that one your favorite?”

 

You shook your head with a small smile. “No. To pick just one would be an insult to the other. Both are wonderful in their own way...but together, they’re unique...and mesmerizing...” you stopped yourself - looking back down to your desk, realizing you’d never told him how much you loved his eyes. Maybe he’d think it was weird. You glanced back to see him smiling softly, just watching you.

 

“ _I don’t think anyone has ever said that before. They usually just said, ‘the blue one._ ” He kept his smile - shrugging a little. He rose from his -floating- seat and stepped into the more open area of the room before turning back to you. “ _Come ‘ere_ _._ _”_ He held out his hand.

 

Your brows pulled together - a bit reluctant, but you stood and walked over nonetheless. You eyed him curiously as you came to a stop in front of him. Without your heels on, he was even taller than before. A warm tingle ran through you as you remembered burying your face in his wonderfully intoxicating smelling chest.

 

You noticed his eyes glance down and his expression soften as a light smile appeared on his lips. “ _You still have it_...”

 

You followed his eyes down to the eridium pendant dangling from its dainty chain around your neck. It was visible now with your top buttons undone. You smiled back up at him. “Of course..”

 

He held his hand out. “ _Dance with me_.”

 

You let out a small chuckle. Wait...was he serious? “Um...Jack...I don’t think that going to work. We can’t exactly touch...”

 

He rolled his eyes with quite the amount of exaggeration and smiled down at you. “ _Just humor me, sweetheart_.”

 

You sucked in a breath and took a step forward, placing your hand mostly through his extended one and holding your other where his waist would be if he wasn’t made out of light and code. The tiny robot above him began playing soft music, but loud enough to distract you from your feet being the only sound in the room.

He began moving slowly, keeping his hands floating with you as you both moved together. To say that it was difficult to dance with a hologram was an understatement.

 

“This is silly, Jack...” you said as you spun and came back to his hands. The first song had ended, beginning a new one already.

 

“And yet you’re smiling..” he added on with a grin. “I haven’t seen you smile like this all week.”

 

You glanced up at him, realizing you _were_ smiling...and giggling. Honestly, as silly as it felt - you were having so much fun. You wished so badly that you could feel him, and actually dance with him again.

You were going to get his body back. No matter what.

 

•

(Rhys’s POV)

 

He lied there in bed for awhile after he’d woken up from his short nap. He hadn’t slept much in the last few days. Far too much on his mind and far too much to do. He’d gotten a little over an hour in though, that would at least take some of the immediate fatigue away.

He began to wonder how (Y/n) was coming along with the coding. He knew she’d be able to do it. She was good at those things. Not that she was any better or worse than Jack, but she could definitely move faster than Jack explaining it all out for him.

He’d been lying in the dark for about half an hour, just taking some time to relax and not stare at a screen for a bit. The looming thought of Maliwan knocking his door down was never to far away though. This program code needed to work. With that thought, he was up and pulling his pants and shoes back on over his flashy red Atlas socks.

As he got to his office door he could hear the faint sound of music coming from down the hall. He walked closer, hearing that it was coming from (y/n)’s office. Not that she didn’t listen to music, but it wasn’t usually over a speaker. He peeked in - seeing her and the holographic Jack...dancing? -but she was smiling...laughing, even. She looked...happy. He’d seen her smile plenty of times since he’d saved her from the wreckage...but never like that...never with _that_ look in her eyes.

He couldn’t help but smile to himself as leaned back into the hall and walked back to his office. Sure, it was a little painful to see her so happy with Jack, an AI Jack at that, but it was great to finally see her looking so happy. A happiness he figured she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Rhys glanced at the clock on the wall of his office as he passed by it. It was still early on Pandora - maybe he’d call Vaughn and see what his old bro was up to. It’d been awhile since their last call. Hopefully, he’d finally made that move on Ellie. He chuckled at the thought as he pressed on Vaughn’s contact.

 

•

(Reader POV)

 

After dancing, giggling, talking, and finally getting Jack to just sit and look pretty (his words) while you continued working on the coding - you were finished with what Rhys had noted that he needed to complete on it.

 

You walked into his office, with a big smile as the AI followed behind.

 

“Finished.” You said as you slapped the drive that now held the program on to Rhys’s desk.

 

His eyes lit up. “Already? Really? God. You’re amazing!” He chuckled as he plugged it in to read over it. After a moment or two, he began nodding his head happily. “Yes! This should work!” He rolled his eyes. “I really hope it works...”

 

“You didn’t sleep?” You asked noticing the coffee on his desk.

 

“Eh, a little. I’ll sleep once this is all over.” He chuckled tiredly and ejected the drive. “Now. To get it over to Maliwan’s headquarters in the city.”

 

“How do we do that? The assault teams aren’t going to be able to move quietly enough to not be noticed..” You replied.

 

“ _Annnnd, the longer they don’t know about it...the longer you have until they find it and shut it down_.” Jack added in.

 

You nodded back, returning your gaze to Rhys. He was thinking. Tapping his pen against his desk’s surface.

 

“Mmm...I’m not sure... I could try and send Lorelei, but even she isn’t great with discretion. Plus, no one can know Jack’s AI is the one imputing it...” Rhys mumbled, still thinking.

 

“I’ll do it.” You interrupted his thoughts. Quickly earning the eyes of both men. Rhys began shaking his head, opening his mouth to surely object, as you held your finger up to stop him. “I’m serious. I’m small enough to go unnoticed. I already know about Jack, and I know how to plug him in correctly. Plus, I can hack through any defenses or blocks that might be in the way. You can’t go. You’re the CEO and you can’t send any of the Lance. I’m our best bet, and you know it.” You stated firmly, keeping your eyes locked on Rhys’s.

 

He stayed quiet for a moment, letting his gaze drop to his desk. “I can’t let you risk your life...”

 

“But you’ll let someone else?” You quickly demanded.

 

He looked back up to you, letting out a sigh. “They aren’t you.”

 

You noticed Jack’s head turn rather quickly towards Rhys out of the corner of your eye.

 

You let out a deep breath. “Rhys. This is your entire company. It is more important than m-

 

“Don’t.” Rhys said holding his hand up. “It is important, but don’t say that it’s more important than you. I can build Atlas back up if needed. I can’t bring you back to life if something goes wrong.”

 

You stared back at Rhys. The room falling quiet for a moment.

 

“ _He has a point there_.” Jack added.

You shot a glare at the blue man.

“ _But_...” he continued. “ _I’ve seen you handle worse_.”

 

Rhys let out a sigh. “These aren’t bandits or bugs down on Pandora. These are trained gunmen and robots...”

 

“-And they won’t even know I’m there. I won’t get shot at if they never see me.” You snapped back. “There really is no point in arguing about this. You have no one else to send. I’m going.”

 

Rhys closed his eyes for a moment, just breathing in and out. “Fine.” He reopened the mismatched eyes. “But I want you outfitted with bulletproof gear. At least on the vital areas. It’s not going to fit you very well, but I really don’t care at this point. I’d prefer you lived than felt comfortable. Take a gun from the armory. A small one that doesn’t weigh you down. Just in case. Don’t use it unless you have to. You don’t want to draw attention.”

 

You nodded back. You already knew all of this, but you were impressed by the demanding leadership in his tone. “I’ll get ready then.” You added before turning and heading for the office door. Leaving the two men alone, with Jack more closely studying Rhys now after his rather obvious show of affection. 

 

•

 

By the time you were strapped in and armed nearly an hour had gone by. You’d gone over the plan, uploaded the map to your echo, and gotten everything ready with the AI. It was still dark out, which was definitely good. Getting across the city without being noticed was going to take some doing. Rhys had called Lorelei and set up a diversion team - informing her, mostly, on the plan - leaving out the whole Handsome Jack AI bit. You would take a cyclone through the spillways until you got near the Maliwan war headquarters on the other side of the city. From there, you’d head on foot around the building and into the ducts until you found the main console to deposit the AI into. He’d take it from there. If all went well, the digistructors would be offline within the hour. Jack had suggested a slow start so that whoever went on this mission would be able to get away without raised suspicion. The longer they didn’t know about the code, the better.

 

•

 

Rhys had been more nervous than you’d ever seen him as you climbed into the cyclone. He had Lorelei in his ear reporting on everything that was happening. The diversion had worked. Maliwan troops were focused on them while you sped through the spillways. Rhys had synced Jack to your watch and earpiece so that you could hear him while he was inside of their systems - and to yank him out as soon as he was finished. The tiny screen of your watch glowed blue as Jack inhabited it. Having him in your ear was surprisingly calming as you sped along, feeling the cool air whip at your face. You hadn’t been noticed yet. One good thing about the cyclones. Fast and not too loud.

 

 

By the time you reached the building on foot, Rhys had radioed to keep you informed on the assault team. Everything was going well on your end...and as well as it could for Lorelei’s team.

You’d had to hack into a couple grate controls to gain access to the inside of the ducts. You just hoped it had gone unnoticed.

While watching your map of the layout, you finally reached the console room. Peering through the last locked grate, you could see a robot digistructor on either side of the entrance to the room. They didn’t look to be on...probably in standby mode. You were almost sure they’d detect your movement if you exited the duct.

 

“Shit...” you whispered to yourself.

 

“ _What is it_?” Jacks voice appeared in your ear.

 

“Two digistructors. I think they’re in standby mode.” You whispered back.

 

“ _If you get me to the console quick enough I can override the wait time and shut them down_ _almost_ _immediately. It may take a couple minutes though_...”

 

You didn’t really like those odds. If they detected you before Jack could input the program then they’d 1- spawn something that would surely kill you before you could get back in to the ventilation duct, and 2- draw the attention of every thing in the building. There wasn’t really any other choice though.

 

“Okay.” You whispered back, a bit shakier this time. 

 

“ _Hey, you’ve got this, Princess_.” His voice was calm, it helped calm you - even if just a little.

 

You took in a deep breath and began hacking the last grate. A tiny beep from the grate opening made your heart stop as you froze inside of the duct, eyes glued on to the digi-machines.

Nothing.

You let yourself breath again, trying to calm your pounding heart. Slowly you poured yourself onto the floor. Eyes staying locked onto the machines. You snaked your way around the large console in the center of the room.

Everything in here looked almost temporary. The built-in console sat in the middle, with wires running from it from all angles. Smaller temporary consoles lined the outside edges of the room. You knew this building hadn’t belonged to Maliwan before all of this, but you’d figured within the couple months that this “war” had been going that they’d have set up shop a little more permanently. Not that you were complaining.

 

You pulled yourself up as silently as possible - peeking over the backside of the round console. This was Atlas tech. You knew exactly how to work this. Keeping your eyes locked between the digistructors and where your hands were going - you pulled the input jack out of the console and plugged it into your watch. You could feel your heart pounding against your chest - a horrible heavy feeling in your head. You watched the blue light fade from your watch.

 

“ _I’m in_.” Jacks voice came through, much more static-y this time.

You stayed quiet. Wide eyes still watching the two machines. The seconds passing felt like minutes.

 

Rhys’s voice appeared in your ear. “Is everything alright? I see that you’re inside.”

 

You stayed quiet. You couldn’t answer him right now - not when it could alert the machines.

 

“(Y/n)?” His voice appeared again a couple minutes later. He sounded worried at your lack of response. Your watch was useless right now. You couldn’t do anything until Jack was out of the system. “Please answer me...” a pause. “Please don’t be dead...”

 

“ _I’m finished, baby. Let’s get out of here_!” Jack’s static voice appeared again. The screen of your watch illuminated again with a brilliant blue. You pulled the drive out and dropped to the floor - again snaking your way over to the duct. Just as you were about to slide in - the room went deafeningly quiet. The low hum you hadn’t even realized had been there went away. You pulled your head back out, looking over to the machines. They were quiet. Nothing about them looked any different. No lights, no sound. Which was good. If they didn’t immediately look off, then maybe Maliwan wouldn’t notice as quickly.

You slid in and made your way back outside though the ducts.

 

“Rhys...Rhys, I’m here!” You gasped into the cool air, finally being able to breath normally again.

 

“Oh my god. What happened? Are you alright?” He nearly yelled through your ear.

 

“Yes- I had to be quiet. There was digistructors in the console room. They’re all shut down now. I’m heading back.” You yelled over the sound of the water splashing as the cyclone sped through.

 

•

 

You were nearly yanked from your seat as you sped in and parked. Rhys’s arms were around you, pulling you into his embrace. Your heart was finally beginning to slow back down to normal. You let your arms wrap back around him as he mumbled something about being ‘so worried.’

You couldn’t help smugly smiling back at him as he let you go - “I told you I could do it.”

 

He just rolled his eyes - giving you a soft smile and walked back to his console. The other team was still out there, but heading back - what was left at least.

 

“ _Yeah, yeah. We did it, wooo... Now can I get out of this watch, Pumpkin_?” Jack’s voice appeared again, earning a chuckle from you as you plugged him back into the projector bot.

 

•

 

Lorelei confirmed that during their fight, all of the digistructors that had been brought in went offline. Much to the confusion of the non-robotic Maliwan troops. It wouldn’t be long before they were back online. A few days at most, but it would help. It’d be a tough program for them to crack, but not impossible.

 

For the first night in awhile, you and Rhys could both sleep a little easier.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, didn’t make ya wait another week ^_^ 
> 
> Next chapter could be the last, but if it’s too long I’ll cut it into 2 more. I don’t know yet >_<
> 
> Anyway.....let me know what you thought of this one ^_^ favorite parts, parts you didn't like, anything 💛 I’m seriously a very mean critic of my own work, and seeing that other people are enjoying it makes me feel better about it ^_^
> 
> Again, comments are my fuel and I love them! Kudos are nice too, and I appreciate everyone who’s left one ^~^ 💛


	33. The End

 

The disabling program had worked better than expected. It’d been a week already, and the digistructors were still offline. That didn’t mean Maliwan wasn’t throwing everything else they had Atlas’s way. The Lance was more even matched now, with a larger group now guarding the remaining civilians. It felt as if it was time bomb. Any moment, the digistructors could come back online. The program was always known to be a temporary fix - now it was just waiting on more manpower to drive Maliwan back.

 

•

 

“... _I don’t know, I still think you need a bigger fish tank_.”

 

“I don’t have room for a bigger tank. Plus, I’m hardly in here. I’m always down in my office.” You chuckled - looking over at the hologram “lounging” across your bed. This conversation of how much flashier your apartment could be - had been going on for quite awhile.

 

“ _Well, I mean....at least you went with a nice color combo_.” He added, giving a small shrug as he pretended to rest his eyes - folding his arms behind his head.

 

You glanced around your room. The black and white vertical striped walls - with thin gold lines dividing them, the white marble floor with a large circular, long haired rug in the middle, and the yellow accented furniture that tied it all together. A small fish tank sat on a corner table near the window, with a few imported plants added here and there to add a little green/life to the room. The bedroom opened into the rest of the apartment - that was also decorated in blacks, whites, and golds. It wasn’t too flashy, but it looked much wealthier than the previous places you’d lived in. Rhys had whined about it being yellow instead of Atlas colors, but you’d gone with it anyway. You couldn’t help that yellow was one of your favorite colors. Maybe working for Hyperion had rubbed off in more ways than a few.

 

“What can I say? I may not be part of Hyperion anymore, but I guess it’s still part of me.” You smiled to yourself - noticing Jack’s blue lips curve up as well.

 

“ _About that_...” Jack sat up, looking at you. “... _are you planning on staying with Atlas after all of this, or_...?”

 

You gave a small shrug with your shoulders. You’d known this topic was going to come up sooner than later.

“I’m really not sure. Atlas _is_ Rhys’s baby. I haven’t had anywhere else to go...but if we can get your body back-“

 

“ _When._ ** _When_** _we get my body back_.” Jack cut in, giving you a sultry smirk.

 

You let your eyes roll a bit. “Yeah. _When_ we get your body back. What are you going to do?”

 

“ _I’m gonna to take back my goddamn company. Probably kill a shitload of people, just because they’re all idiots. Ah...It’ll feel great to have my hands around someone’s throat again_.” He let out a dark chuckle. “ _Then... Get my friggin space station built...again. Wait for a couple years for that to be finished, while I relax on some beach somewhere with your gorgeous little self on my lap_.” He bounced his brows as he sent a devilish smirk your way. One you couldn’t help but smile back at.

An instant buzz of excitement rushed through you at the thought of getting to feel Jack’s skin against yours...and his lips....and those wondrous hands of his.

 

“Well....I never have gotten to go to any of the aquamarine planets...a beach does sound pretty nice...” you said, smiling back at the blue man.

You _did_ want to go wherever Jack decided to go, even if that meant leaving Atlas...and Rhys behind. Rhys....he really was the only reason that your thoughts were spilt on this topic. You liked Promethea, but it had never felt complete. You already knew that wherever Jack was - you’d have that missing piece again. Even on Pandora, as much as you really hoped he didn’t want to stay near there. Although, your mind wasn’t completely made up yet. Even if your thoughts were leaning more on the leaving side.

 

 

Your echo crackled to life, drawing your attention away from your conversation of beaches and all of the things Jack was saying that he wanted to do to you in the sand.

 

“Hey, I need you to come down to the holo-console when you get a chance. It’s kind of important.” Rhys said before immediately closing the com again.

 

Your heart began thudding. He didn’t sound upset...or happy. You slipped your shoes back on and gathered up the data you’d been working on in the comfort of your bed.

 

•

 

“Maybe the digistructors are back online...” you sighed, as you and Jack rode the elevator down.

 

“ _Yeahhh, probably_ _. It’s lasted longer than I expected. Then again...it is Maliwan we’re talking about here. They’re all idiots, except for the people they steal from other companies_.” Jack chuckled to himself.

 

The doors opened to the large open room. Rhys stood leaned over the holo-console - tapping away at something on his personal echo. His head rose as he heard you enter.

 

“What is it? What happened?” You asked, coming around to stand next to Rhys. Jack merely sauntered around to look out of the window behind the two of you.

 

“Lorelei contacted me a bit ago...there’s a ton of bandits running through the city now. More than the ones we’ve been seeing pop up. They have Maliwan tech. A lot of it.” Rhys sighed, sending off whatever message he had been typing.

 

“How? Did they rob their depot? Wait...Bandits from where? We haven’t had a bandit problem here before?” You asked, remembering that this wasn’t Pandora. Promethea has its share of hoodlums, sure...but it hasn’t had an actual bandit problem for years.

 

“I really don’t know, but it’s definitely not helping us any.” Rhys shrugged, setting his echo down and pulling up Lorelei’s report on the larger screen for you. “It almost seems like they just popped up over night.” He added on.

 

You read through the report - seeing all of the points she’d tagged as bandit hotspots. They were all over the city. If it wasn’t a Maliwan outpost, there was a bandit spot.

 

“Where is she now?” You asked, looking over the map of the city.

 

“Around here. Said she was taking a small team out there to try and see how they got their hands on Maliwan weapons.” Rhys replied - pointing to an area on the map.

 

You scrolled around the map for a few moments, looking at Lorelei’s various tagged points. “How small of a team? She’s going to get herself killed.” You added on, glancing out of the window to the streets below. There has been quite a bit of movement down there the last few days. Maliwan is planning something. They just had to be.

 

“She requested I send more, but I don’t know who she expects that I just have standing around here. Everyone is already out or guarding the civilians.” Rhys sighed, standing next to you and Jack by the window. “Oh, and even more _great_ news... They got the digistructors back online a couple of hours ago.”

 

Your eyes snapped over to Rhys. He just stared out at the city below. His hands on his hips - his mustache covered lips pulled into a slight frown. _Great_ news, indeed.

 

“I can go help her-“ you tried to speak before Rhys’s flattened glare stopped your words.

 

“No. Again.” Rhys sighed.

 

You let out a small huff, noticing Jack’s ever so slight smirk from the corner of your eye. He’d sided with Rhys just about every time you’d volunteered yourself up to help fight. Not that he could really stop you, but you did kind of like seeing his flashes of concern when it looked like Rhys was contemplating on letting you go out there.

 

“Alright. Fine. So is that it? Or are we waiting for her to report back?” You asked, walking back over to Rhys’s side.

 

“Well, I’ll be waiting. I’d like to know how they got their hands on Maliwan tech.”

 

“Well, yeah. So would I. Shouldn’t Zer0 be finding this out? He’s a bit better equipped,” You asked, trying not to sound too annoyed.

Rhys had introduced you to Zer0 several months back. It wasn’t until many odd haiku-ed conversations later that you learned who he was. That he was one of the Vault Hunters that had helped  _kill_ Jack. He didn’t bother you as much as you thought he would though. Zer0 had been in it for the challenge. Anytime he’d speak of his involvement - there were no feelings pertaining to Jack one way or the other given off. The others though, you wouldn’t be so accepting of, if you were to ever meet them again.

 

“He’s already out there.” Rhys responded, scrolling through more things showing through his eye.

 

Just then an alert began to ring out from the console. All three pairs of eyes locked on to the incoming call. There was no identification showing who the call was from. You snickered at Rhys’s scowl, at you mentioning that it could be Katagawa... _again_.

 

“Answer it..” You nudged Rhys - motioning to the call.

 

He let out a sigh - quickly adjusted his tie and hair before standing in front of the holo-camera. Ready to pretend to be his usual automated holo-message.

 

“Hi!” He paused for a moment as the screen showed someone that was definitely not Katagawa. He quickly glanced to you. You just shrugged back. You didn’t recognize them. They didn’t look Maliwan. “...You’ve reached Rhys Strongfork. CEO and wartime general of the Atlas Corporation. Just a quick question... WHO THE HELL IS THIS AND HOW DID YOU GET ON MY SECURE LINE?”

 

A friendly and recognizable voice then appeared. “Rhys, relax. It’s Lorelei. We’ve taken back Watershead Base with a little help. I’ve got...hang about...what is that _thing_ on your face?”

 

Jack instantly recalled himself into the projector as he began laughing. You couldn’t help but let out a small snicker as well. You rather liked his new mustache, but you’d been waiting to see what Lorelei would think. She’d teased him before when he’d let it grow out just a little. It was full and bushy now.

 

Rhys glanced over to you for a brief moment before getting back into his manly wartime general act. “Oh this?” He asked nonchalantly, calling it his siege mustache and earring another couple of snorts from you. “Anyway, who’s your friend?”

 

-

Lorelei then proceeded to explain that she’d run into a group of Vault Hunters. They’d helped her take back Watershed and apparently, knew more about these newly arrived bandits than any of you did.

 

“The bandits are working _with_ Maliwan?!” You asked, rather surprised by that news. “And now The Crimson Raiders are here to open _another_ fucking vault.” You met eyes with Rhys, “You’re _actually_ planning on helping them? Do you know who they are?!” Your voice had raised as more of the news was relayed. Luckily, the com was off now. The vault hunters were off to go find Zer0 to help out.

 

“We have to help them, if they help us. I mean look around you, these guys are probably our best chance at getting Maliwan off of our asses.” Rhys responded in his usual calm tone.

 

“The Crimson Raiders, Rhys. Do you know who they are?” You snapped back. Glancing over to Jack - who had since come back out of the Projector-bot - his express showed his lack of amusement as well. Although you weren’t sure if he was more mad at who was here or that he didn’t have physical hands to choke the life out of the people he’d wanted to watch die, slowly.

 

“Yes, I know who they are, but I also know that they can help. All I have to do is help them get to the Vault-“

 

“The vault, Rhys? Oh _that’s_ all? Just walking on over to the old Vault and cracking it open. Why didn’t you just say so? That’s easy! I _totally_ forgot how simple and not deadly opening Vaults is.” The sarcasm dripped out of every word - earning you a lovely glare from Rhys.

 

“Look. We need their help-“

 

“They _killed_ Jack!” You shouted back. “Those people that these vault hunters are working for. The Crimson Raiders? They killed him. They even kidnapped and beat me up years ago!” You could feel your face growing redder with anger.

 

Rhys let out a sigh. “I know you don’t like them...but, we need their help, and I’ll return the favor once all of _this_ is finished.” He motioned out towards the window. “...You don’t have to talk to them or even be around them if you don’t want to be. Their leader and a few members of their team will be meeting with me soon though.” He glanced over to Jack’s holographic form. “He’ll have to be hidden until they leave.”

 

You could hear a scoff come from Jack. You just rolled your eyes with a quick exhale and stalked back to your office. You had work to continue on anyway.

 

•

 

After awhile you could hear voices coming from down the hall. Your stomach dropped. You were glad that Atlas was going to get some help, but even so...you weren’t pleased with who would be helping. There was a chance it wasn’t even the same people you’d met years ago, or the same team that had “killed” Jack, but still...they worked for _Lilith_. You’d heard various reports about The Crimson Raiders over the years. You didn’t know they were off of Pandora though.

 

You peeked out of your doorway, towards Rhys’s office. His door was open, but you couldn’t hear any voices. Maybe that was a good sign.

 

A few steps from his office and you began to hear talking. “ _Great_...” you thought as you rolled your eyes. You weren’t sure who you’d see as you walked in, but nothing could’ve prepared you for the red haired woman your eyes fell upon. Your feet halted in the doorway, eyes glued to the profile of _that_ woman. Rhys’s eyes fell to you, causing her to look your way as well.

Her eyes widened, and narrowed again just as quickly.

“You...” she scoffed with a small laugh, as she turned more to face you. “I remember you. You were Handsome Jack’s little _pet_ , right?”

 

You glared back. The roaring fire inside you felt uncontainable the instant you saw her. If you had a gun, you’d have already had it aimed at her head. If only...

_Jack’s little pet_... You stared back, deciding against answering her little jab. Your eyes trailed over her. Her fiery hair, her golden eyes, even the way she held herself. None of it had changed....but- where were her tattoos? _She’s a siren, right_? You had seen her brilliant blue tattoos that day she’d had her guys kidnap you. The rivers of blue that snaked around her arm and torso....were _gone_?

 

“Hello, Lilith.” You sneered back. “What happened to your tattoos?”

 

Her eyes narrowed again. “As I was just telling Rhys... the Calypso twins stole my siren powers. They want to open the vault before us, so that they can harness the monster’s power. That’s why we came here initially, but we’re willing to help with this Maliwan crap.”

 “ _Calypso Twins_...?” You thought to yourself. Why did that name sound vaguely familiar? 

It was then that your eyes caught the forms of two other people standing along the wall...well, one looked human...the other was..a robot? You eyed them for a moment. Neither looked familiar. Your gaze fell to the blonde man, noticing something in place of his eye.

You quickly shifted your gaze back to Lilith who had seemed to notice your interest in the two others.

“This is Zane and Fl4k. Two new members of The Raiders. They helped take back one of your bases earlier.”

 

You glanced back to the others. Giving a small nod. “Thank you...” The blonde gave you a quick wink, with a suave little smirk. The other just nodded with a slow blink of the glowing green circle that you assumed was what he used as an eye. You looked back to Lilith. “You don’t honestly expect me to just completely trust you because you killed some bandits that happened to be occupying our property, do you?”

 

She let out a small snort. “It doesn’t really matter to me if you trust us or not. We’re here for our own gain. We’re just helping out with a mutual problem first. Taking out corrupt leaders and whatnot. I would think _you’d_ remember, that just what’s we do.” She let a smirk spill on to her lips.

 

You could feel your rage growing as every smug word fell from her lips - dripping with her bitchy attitude. “Yes. I remember.” You spoke through nearly gritted teeth. “..and I’m sure...oh, what was his name again? Oh! Right- I’m sure _Roland_ would be so proud.” You put on an equally smug smirk. Her lips dropped into a thin line, as her eyes narrowed even further. “Good luck with your vault.” You gave a quick incredibly faked smile to Lilith before giving a real and polite smile to the other two and walking back out of the room.

You slipped to the side where you couldn’t still be seen and leaned your head against the wall near the doorway. You wanted to scream out all of the built up rage that you’d been drowning in the past few minutes. That, or walk back in there with a gun and finally kill that woman, like you’d wanted to for years. -But no, Rhys was right. Atlas did need help, and if these people were willing, then you couldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.

 

You could hear Rhys clear his throat. “I’m...um..I’m sorry. She...has a bit of a temper.”

 

Lilith let out a chuckle. “She did the last time I saw her too. If she hadn’t been on Jack’s side, she would’ve been a nice asset. At least most of you Hyperions had loyalty.“

 

You rolled your eyes and pushed away from the wall. Listening to her talk was only going to keep making you more mad. It was her that had (or thought she had) killed Jack, plus all of the other things she’d done before that. You had every reason to want to kill her. However, if Jack would’ve just _not_ gone down to that damn vault in the first place, then he wouldn’t have been nearly killed in it.

Still. You wanted to kill her, but you knew Jack wanted to kill her even more...and _that_ was something you wouldn’t mind seeing one day.

 

•

 

“...I’m not working with those people. I don’t care if they can help or not.” You growled as you plopped down on to your chair in your living room.

 

“ _Annnd you plan on doing....what, about that_?” Jack asked, lounged across your couch. “ _Because, he’s probably right, Pumpkin. Atlas has been getting nowhere with this war. The program slowed them down, but they just bit back harder than before with this bandit allegiance_.”

 

You let out a long sigh, leaning your head back on to your chair. “I know... I just- I can’t just sit around and pretend that I’m okay with all of this. Imagine if they found out about you- about your real body. They’d try and kill you again-“

 

Jack let out a small snort. “ _Well, they’d have to find me first._ ”

 

You sat up, looking straight at Jack - who now looked a bit confused as to why your eyes had widened so much. “We’re leaving.”

 

Jack’s brow raised questioningly. “ _Um...what do you mean_?”

 

“You and I. We aren’t staying here. Rhys can work with them all he wants, but that doesn’t mean I have to. We are going to get you your body back, and then one day we can kill that _Firehawk_ bitch together.”

 

A smile rose on Jack’s lips. “ _You sure you really want to do that? Once I’m back, I’m back, sweetheart. I’m not letting some asshole bandits kill me again_.”

 

You stood from your seat - bringing your hands to your hips. “There’s nothing I’ve wanted more since you left.” You said absolutely, starring back into those blue holographic eyes.

 

Jack’s smile grew into something devious - the thoughts of what having his body back would feel like running through his mind. All of the things he’d get to do again. The chance to be more than a king this time. The looks on everyone’s faces when they’d see the man they’d all thought to be dead - smiling that devilish, sexy smile back at them.

 

“ _Let’s do it, babe_.” His voice purred out of the speaker.

 

•

 

It’d been a few hours since you’d left Rhys’s office. You’d spent the last couple of those hours researching everything you could about Nakayama’s last known whereabouts, and anything you could find on his hidden laboratory. Since the Vault Hunters has killed him and inevitably spread the news, the location wasn’t so secret anymore. Reports stated it’d been taken over by local wildlife since and was falling into disarray. That was something that worried you. If the lab had lost power - the underground vault that Jack’s body was housed in could be offline or gotten to by outside forces. His body could easily be _actually_ dead already.

 

The lab wasn’t going to be easy to get to. It would take traveling back to Pandora, either flying or driving to the lab, and then getting past all of the security - if there was any left. You really hoped there wasn’t.

 

You went ahead and scheduled the galactic flight to Pandora. Once there, you’d find somewhere to rent your next vehicle of travel. First, you needed to tell Rhys. Your least favorite part of this plan - even more so than going back to the death trap, that is Pandora.

 

Jack hadn’t stopped taking the entire time, he was beyond excited for this to finally be happening. You’d almost forgotten how animated he could get when he was this excited. You didn’t express it as much, but you were incredibly eager to have the real him back. It felt like so long ago that you’d been able to actually feel him - to look into his mismatched eyes and lose yourself in them. You wanted to scream with how elated you were at the thought of seeing him again. He’d been by your side since Rhys had put him into the Projector-bot and you’d honestly loved every second of his constant commentary. He couldn’t do much else other than talk in this form, and so everything just kind of flowed out of him as he thought. It all made you realize how much you’d missed him. All of the years of trying to force him from your thoughts just so that you could get a few moments of reprieve had felt like hell most days. -But having him nearly here next you, and not being able to sense him in any way other artificial sight and sound - was making you want the real him back, more than ever before.

 

•

 

You made your way back down to Rhys’s office. It was quiet now. Your turned in to see him sitting at his desk, eye glowing as he read though something only he could see. A tiny pain stung in your chest at the sight. You’d really grown to enjoy being around Rhys the last few years. Watching him grow into the CEO that he is now had been quite the up and down journey. Full of painful memories from the past, but also full of so many laughs and new memories made with him, and building Atlas back up.

Part of you wanted to stay - wished that you’d never known about the Jack AI (that was still up in your apartment). If you’d never have known - if Rhys had never brought him back, you could’ve eventually moved on. The kiss with Rhys had proved that to you. You were finally ready to admit that you needed to let go of Jack. -But then...the second you’d learned that the AI was intact and powered on, you’d just about completely forgotten about that kiss. You had no idea of what Jack felt for you, or what he’d _ever_ felt for you, but you knew how you felt. You couldn’t just deny that. No matter how much you’d grown to feel for Rhys, it had never felt the same as it had with Jack.

 

You knocked on the doorframe, earning Rhys’s attention to shift up and him to look at you. “Hey,” he let out a small chuckle. “You don’t have to knock..” he looked back to his Echo projection - closing whatever it was, for later.

 

You stepped in and walked over to his desk. Your heart was pounding and you felt an increasing feeling of dead in your stomach. You knew this is ultimately what you wanted to do, but it didn’t help the pain that it was causing right now.

You took in a deep breath, slowly letting it back out through your nose. Rhys’s eyes stayed on yours. “Did the rest of your meeting go well?” You asked, trying to ease yourself into the conversation.

 

He nodded. “They talked about what was going on with these bandits. Some sort of cult following. Some siren twins stealing power wherever they can get it.”

 

You scowled a little. “Siren twins...that’s, unusual...”

 

He nodded again, brows raised in agreement. “...and they want to get to the vault to steal whatever power the monster guarding it has.”

Rhys stayed quiet for a moment, before clearing his throat. “Anyway, they say they’ll help if I promise to help them with the vault. Seems fair to me, so I agreed.” Your eyes snapped back to his. “I know...I know what they did to you, and Jack...but-“

 

“No.” You held up your hand to stop him. “You’re right. They _are_ your best bet at saving Atlas, I know that...but, I‘m sorry, Rhys... I can’t work with them. Mostly Lilith.”

 

“(Y/n), can’t you just ignore her until-“

 

“Rhys, if I see her again...I will kill her. Now that I know she’s not hyped on siren powers and eridium, I could, and would kill her as soon as I laid eyes on her.”

Rhys’s eyes had widened, but he stayed quiet.

“It doesn’t matter though... I’m...I’m leaving for a little bit.” You paused for a beat, noticing Rhys’s mouth fall open. “You don’t need me here to save Atlas. You have all the help you need. This is your company, not mine. It never has been. You’re right about needing their help, but that doesn’t mean I need to be here too. _You_ have to save Atlas...I’m- ..I’m going back to Pandora, and I’m getting Jack’s body back.”

 

Rhys sat, eyes widened and mouth still agape for a few passing moments. Finally his head began to shake back and forth. “I don’t...I don’t want you to go...”

 

“I don’t- I need to, Rhys.” You sighed.

 

Rhys looked down to his desk. “I guess I always hoped you’d stay...” he sighed through his nose. “Even if I _always_ knew you probably wouldn’t... I guess I’m lucky you stayed this long...but..in the long run, it just made me want you more.” He looked back up, meeting your gaze.

 

Your brow had lowered into a frown. “I’m sorry...” you whispered back, noticing that your voice had abandoned you.

 

Rhys stood from his chair, and walked around his desk to stand in front of you. “No...I...I understand. Just promise me that if anything goes wrong, or it doesn’t work out with Jack’s body...or him...that you’ll come back.” His eyes shuffled between yours as he gazed down at you.

 

You hated seeing him like this. The sadness in his eyes that always showed through so well, no matter how much he tried to hide it. That pain in your chest growing and growing. Maybe you did care for Rhys more than you thought you did.

You took a small step forward and wrapped your arms around his waist - burying your face into his lower chest. You felt his arms instantly wrap around you as well, as his nose nuzzled itself into your hair. His heart pounded away in your ears. You stayed that way for a moment, trying to get the liquid in your eyes to stay inside.

“I will be back. I just don’t know when yet.” You mumbled into his chest.

 

“Good.” He simply whispered back, before clearing his throat to gain his voice back. “Besides, all of your stuff is here. You’ll have to come get it soon.” He managed a small chuckle.

 

You pulled away with a small smile, noticing his as well. You just nodded back, knowing your voice may break if you tried to talk.

 

•

 

Getting everything you needed together was the easy part. Walking on to the travel ship, and watching as Rhys gave a singular wave goodbye as he stood, watching the ship take off - was the hardest part. You weren’t sure how well communication between Pandora and Promethea was going to be, but you’d told him to keep you as informed as he could. You still cared about Atlas, and him...but this was what you wanted. If it all worked out, you’d have Jack back within a couple of days. You’d reminded yourself to worry about what all could come from that at a later time. Jack knew he couldn’t do things the same way as last time, but you weren’t sure how much he was willing to change this time around. He definitely didn’t want to _actually_ die this time because of some dumb decision on his part.

 

•

 

Jack was housed inside of your watch again for the travel. Every so often your watch would give a small buzz - indicating a new game was started. Occasionally, it was a co-op game that you’d never win at because Jack had played all of these countless times during his downtimes inside of the watch. Still, his little smile emotes every time he won would cause you to smile dorkily to yourself.

If you’d had been told years ago that you’d be on your way back to Pandora from a different planet, with the exact likeness of Handsome Jack inside of a watch on your wrist...playing dumb 2D games with him - you’d have thought they were spouting nonsense. Even as you were living it, it still seemed nonsensical.

 

Every which way that your life had gone since you’d ran away from Pandora began running through your mind. Working up through Hyperion had been some of your favorite years. You’d been able to show off your talents, gain a bestfriend, and just live life far away from the troubles of your childhood. You had never expected to meet the fearsome Handsome Jack. You definitely never expected to like him, or completely fall for him. His unexpected downfall had been absolutely crushing and for years after - it seemed like life just wanted to see how much it could throw at you. Being President of Hyperion had been the one silver lining for some time, but even that had come to an abrupt end. In a single night you’d lost the last remaining things you’d held dear...but because of such...you gained a few new things. Looking back, there were so many ways your life could’ve gone differently. What if you had never left Pandora? What if you had, but had never met Jack? Would you have ever met Rhys on your own? Would he be the one you ended up falling for, or would you have hated him for his Hyperion attitude he once had? What if Jack had never gone after that vault? What if Helios hadn’t crashed? All of the what if’s with answers that you’d never know. 

 

You were pulled from your thoughts as a dinging noise alerted passengers of the arrival to Pandora’s sector.

You looked out of the window. You were still in space. Your eyes fell upon the glowing planet below. It was close - too close to see the entire side that you were on. You felt the ship dock, only adding on to your confusion as to why you weren’t actually _on_ Pandora.

You noticed a man that worked for the Promethean travel hub, walking down the isle and stopped him.

 

“Why are we not landing on Pandora?” You asked.

 

He smiled a polite, old man’s smile. “Been some time since you were here last?” You nodded. “Ah, well...we don’t dock on the planet’s surface anymore. It just got too dangerous with that cult uprising. Now we dock up here and take smaller shuttles down.” He gave another polite smile and continued on his way down isle.

 

“Hmm... _nice_ to know Pandora hasn’t changed much. At least not for the better.” You grumbled to yourself.

 

•

 

You were stuck, waiting in your seat for awhile before it was finally your turn to board a shuttle. You’d be going down to an area you hadn’t been to before - a wilder part of Pandora. You definitely weren’t looking forward to that aspect.

 You sat in the middle of some small town, on the back of your rented vehicle - just looking up at Elpis. Unobstructed by Helios now. It’s bright purple scar glowing and bringing back the memories of your time living the moon’s surface. Then the memories of looking out it from Jack’s massive office windows. It was times like these that you wished you could travel back in time. At least to just see it all in person again. 

 

After nearly an hour - you were on your way to the lab, with a small team of mercenaries you’d hired to meet you in the little town. There was no telling what you’d find out there, and it was better to have some sort of back up. Besides, Pandorans didn’t just turn down good money...even if not _all_ of the details were out in the open.

 

•

 

> _Sooo, can we kill these guys after I get my body back? They’re probably going to freak out when they see me. Just saying_.

 

>>Not unless they attack first. If so, feel free to go at em.

 

>  >:) _I don’t know...I kind of wanna watch you kill em. Bet that’d be sexy_.

 

>> We’ll see...maybe we’ll just hide your face. 

 

> _Aw...that’s not nearly as fun. Plus, you’d want to cover up this handsomeness? I’m hurt_.

 

•

 

You’d rented a technical that could comfortably house the four of you, not including Jack...who didn’t really take up much room inside of your watch. The ride was bumpy and long. The man that was driving seemed to get a kick out of hitting every possible skag or other beast that he could. Even if they were a ways off of the road or dirt path. Here and there, there’d be a huge * **thud** * followed by a couple more that you could only assume was the body of the poor thing being ran over by each sets of tires. It definitely made falling asleep for more than a few minutes, next to impossible.

There was a rough woman who had to have smoked through at least an entire pack of cigarets already. Her scratchy voice definitely showed that to be a common occurrence. She was nicer than you’d expected, especially for a Pandoran mercenary. She was ex-Dahl. Born on Demophon and ended up stuck on Pandora after leaving the military. She’d asked what you were looking to find at this lab - with you just admitting to being ex-Hyperion and claiming that you wanted to find some old lab notes and possible experiments in the systems, if they still worked. She didn’t need to know the full truth. She also didn’t really seem to care much.

The last fellow was quiet. He’d kept to himself the whole time, only talking when spoken to. He seemed older as well, just like the other two. All three had known each other for years, and this wasn’t the first time they’d all taken a job that held back some secrets. They were in it for the money. Didn’t care what it was about. You hoped they still felt that way once Jack was back in his body. You knew neither of you would be able to hesitate to kill them if they retaliated.

 

•

 

The lab wasn’t easy to get to, but once there - the three had fanned out and taken out every little thing that moved. The reports about it being taken over by wildlife were definitely accurate.

Stepping over many dead carcasses - you made your way to the closest entrance. The door had been bashed in and the keypad next to it was only good for throwing out sparks every few seconds. The room beyond it was dim, only lit up from the broken out windows that vines had since grown through. The near lack of power wasn’t a good sign, but the occasional flicker or spark showed that it was at least still present somewhere in the facility. 

 

You’d finally synced your earpiece to your watch so that you could hear Jack. A tiny camera attached to your lapel let him see just about everything you could. You couldn’t talk back much, and only answered sometimes by typing on your watch. The other three didn’t seem to notice - as their eyes were peeled for more wildlife. A few more skags and stalkers had popped out as you made your way through the hallways. Each room looking like the last. The building wasn’t all that large, comparatively, but you really had no idea where to go. Down was probably a good way to start.

 

You walked in the middle of the row of people. The larger man of the two being out in front. Down a couple flights of stairs, since the one elevator you’d found was no longer in working condition. Each new darkened room made your stomach sink. You had no idea what you’d do if you got to the end of all of this and the capsule that held Jack’s body no longer had power. You kept pushing that thought away. It wouldn’t help to think like that right now.

 

After some time of wandering around, the group stopped.

“What are we lookin’ for? We’ve been walking around for well over an hour.” The large, gruff man spoke up.

 

“A console...or something...” You mumbled, still looking around.

 

“Mmfph.” The man grunted, sliding down to sit on the floor. “Well I’m taking a smoke and dinner break. You go ahead, if you want to. Pretty sure we already cleared the place out...but, uh...here.” He leaned to the side and pulled a small Jacobs pistol out of the back of his pants. “You know how to use a gun, little lady?”

 

You heard Jack snort in your ear. “ _Ugh, a Jacobs_?  _Yeah, asshole...let her show you just how well she knows how to shoot_!”

You held back your snicker at Jack’s words and just nodded. “Yeah, I do.” You reached for the gun, ignoring that it had probably just come from the unwashed crack of this sweaty man. “Thanks. I’ll be back in awhile. I can just meet you guys back at the entrance _.”_

_“_ You sure, hun?” The raspy woman spoke up as she lit up another cigarette. “We only get the other half of our money if you come out of this place alive.”

 

“Yep. I’ll be fine. I used to live down on Pandora...err...here on Pandora.” You nodded with a thin smile. “I’ll be back. Eventually. You have my echo frequency if needed.”

You turned away from the small group as they smoked and unpacked their _meal-in a-bags_. You’d wanted to get away from them for a bit anyway. Your stomach was still tight with wondering what they were going to do when or if you walked out to them with another person - and that person being the man that the entire galaxy thought was dead.

 

•

 

You made your way down another flight of stairs. The lowest level - that the stairs went to at least. The console had to be somewhere on this level.

 

“ _Hey Pumpkin_?” Jacks voice rose up in your ear. Nearly making you jump with how quiet the rest of this place was.

 

You let out a slow breath to calm your startled heart. “Yes...?”

 

“ _I never apologized for not telling you I was going into the vault_...” you stayed quiet. “ _I knew you’d be upset about it. Even if you never voiced it much. I guess I just thought I’d come back and be like ‘See? Everything worked out!’ ...but um...it didn’t happen like that...”_

“No...it didn’t.” You responded quietly.

 

“ _I am sorry...for not telling you, at least. I felt like an idiot when Rhys told me...ehh..nevermind..”_ Jack’s voice trailed off.

 

“When Rhys told you, what?” Your voice soaked with curiosity.

There was a pause of silence. You waited as the seconds ticked by before eventually repeating your question. “Jack? What did Rhys tell you?”

Another beat of silence.  

“ _How you felt about me...or feel...I don’t know. We just never talked about this kind of crap, ya know_?” Your heart began pounding instantly. You knew exactly what he was referring to. You’d never told him you loved him. You never planned on it either. Jack didn’t do love. At least not anymore. “ _I mean, I always cared about you...quite a lot. You had me hooked from day one, sweetheart. Granted, I just wanted to bone you at first, buuuuut..it grew. I guess I just always pushed it down ‘cause...I’m..*haha*..I’m Handsome Goddamn Jack. I’m not supposed to love people...I kill people. That’s what I’m good at. Two wives down, my daughter...Nisha... I told myself I wouldn’t care about people anymore, but you...you just grew on me. ...W-why are you not walking anymore? What is that?”_

You’d been listening to Jack ramble on about _actually_ caring for you - something he’d never actually come out and said - and had just continued walking. Until you came to the end of a hallway - with a built-in console on its wall. It looked to be powered off. You glanced around you - shining your light each way. There was nothing else on either side of the walls. This had to be it. Nakayama had never said that the entrance was impossible to find - just impossible to get into, without him...or the AI.

 

“I think I found it, Jack.” You nearly whispered.

 

“ _Does it have power_?” He asked. You knew he had to be looking at it as closely as he could from the camera.

 

You stepped closer and tapped on its screen a couple times - nothing. You let out a small sigh as you crouched down, looking beneath its rim for any type of button - again, nothing. You stood back up, running your fingers along its dust covered edges - feeling for anything at this point. You felt a tiny zap and yelped as you pulled your hand back.

 

“ _Umm...What was that_?” Jack immediately asked.

 

“It shocked me..” you answered, stepping to the side and peeking around the side of the screen - shining your light to see better. Your eyes quickly locked on to a tiny black button. You reached back around, hesitating a bit at the thought of another zap. You squished the button with your finger - instantly a shelf-like device popped out of the front, lighting up the screen as well. Your chest fluttered to life - seeing the screen turn on.

**EMERGENCY POWER ON**. 

**Remaining Power Supply- POWER SUPPLY 2 **\- **1** **YEAR** ,  **7** **MONTHS**

 

“All of the backup power will go out in a little over a year...” you whispered to yourself. 

You looked down at the glowing board that had popped out. You could see the green circuits beneath the glass - glowing and pulsing with electricity. It had to be some sort of scanning device for Nakayama. There was a light handprint outline on one side and what looked like a retina scanner above it. The other side had the outline of a keypad and in the middle was a button labeled External Port. 

You let your finger hover over the button for a moment - a bit scared that you could end up locking the whole thing down. You tapped down. Immediately, a port-stick stuck out of the front of the glowing circuit board.

 

“ _Guess it’s my turn now, babe_.” Jack spoke up.

 

You nodded, realizing he couldn’t see that and unfastened your watch - moving it over to the upload port. “Ready?” You asked nervously.

 

“ _Yuuuup, lets do this. Plug me in, baby_!”

 

You pushed the watch onto the drive. After a few seconds the slight static in your ear went quiet and the screen lit up with a message.

 

**UPLOADING CORE AI FUNCTION OVERRIDE. LOADING...**

 

Your pulse had sped up - as your stomach felt like it was flipping.

 

**COMPLETE-**

**PLEASE REMOVE AI.**

 

You quickly pulled the watch off of the drive. Just as soon - the static in your ear appeared again, right as the wall in front of you began to lower into the floor. Your eyes widened as you took a step back. The lowered wall revealed an elevator. A working elevator.

You stepped in and noticed the only two buttons on the inner panel. Up - with an arrow, and down - with another arrow. You pressed on the down arrow and felt the floor’s weight change as you began to descend.

It was only a few seconds before a lit up room began appearing at the bottom of the opening of the elevator.

 

There were consoles and odd looking machines randomly placed - like they’d been put there in a hurry. Remembering the audio logs you’d listened to - they probably were put there hurriedly. In the very back - in the middle of the mess of wires and machines stood a tall glass tube attached to wheeled machine. Various tubes and wires were attached to it on every side and a low hum could be heard emitting from it.

It looked to be covered in a thick film of dust - as you stepped closer you could feel the cold coming off of the tube.

 

“ _Oh ho ho, ohhhh boy. That’s gotta be it, right_?” Jack excited voice spoke up through your ear. You realized you were smiling. You were so close...

 

You stepped closer - bringing your hand up to the glass and wiping away some of the dust. As the glass cleared, you felt your stomach, your chest...your entire body began to flutter. Right in front of you, with just a few inches of glass between you - was Jack. The real Jack.

 

His mask was off, resting in his hands instead. A few small tubes were attracted to different areas of his arms. You looked closer. The bright blue scar was still there, but the rest of his face looked younger - not by much, but some of the wrinkles had lessened or gone away completely. The capsule really could reverse aging a little. Nakayama was far more of a genius than he’d ever gotten credit for. You stood there for a moment, just smiling up at the sleeping man you hadn’t seen in years - awestruck.

 

“ _Wow. That is weird to see_.” Jack spoke up again, pulling you out of your zoning moment. “ _Just like...looking at your own body. I mean, I know I had body doubles...but I knew they weren’t actually me.”_

You let out a small giggle. “Now I just plug you in again...right?”

 

“ _That’s what his notes said... Sooo, I guess so_.”

You gave a nod back and stepped closer, looking down at the tiny console connected to the machine. A small extendable wand with a drive-stick connected to it, sat folded up on the side of it, just waiting to finally be used.

 

“Jack...” you spoke up, as your hands hesitated plugging the watch in.

 

“ _Hmm_?”

“What’s going to happen to your AI when the real you wakes up? I don’t want to send you back to the...abyss of nothingness...”

 

You heard a quiet chuckle. “ _I’ll be alright, Pumpkin. I’ll go to sleep. Since it’s a proper shut down, I won’t even know what’s happening unless I’m powered on again. Just like before Rhys ever found me_.”

 

“Do you think the real you will remember everything that you’ve seen the last few years?”

 

“ _It should upload everything to my brain...my real brain_.” He let out another small chuckle. “ _Now come on, sweetheart. I want to see you with my real eyes again_.”

 

You couldn’t help but smile at the excitement those words held. “Alright...here we go..” you whispered back.

You pulled the wand out and plugged it into the watch. The blue light faded from its screen, as did the static in your ear again. After nearly a minute - the machine in front of you began to whirr and hum louder. You took a couple of steps back as the glass began to fog up from the inside. The tubes connected to the machine began to unlock and drop away - clattering to the hard floor beneath them.

You watched with bated breath as you heard the capsule’s glass door disengage. The cool fog poured out as the door rose up. You could feel your pulse pounding in your chest - all the way to your finger tips. _Please work. Please work._ Repeating through your mind as the seconds ticked by.

 

You watched his expressionless face as the fog cleared away. Waiting - just waiting for something - any kind of movement.

 

Finally, his eyes flickered open and closed a few times - before landing on yours. You could feel your cheeks beginning to ache with how big your smile must be. Those enchanting blue and green eyes stared back at you as a smile slowly rose on his lips.

You couldn’t move from your spot. You felt completely frozen by what was happening. This couldn’t be real. Another dream..

 

A sneakered foot stepped out and down onto the floor, followed by the other. Your eyes slowly made their way up the entire form now standing directly in front of you. Your hand instantly went out - feeling the firmness of his chest. The real-ness of him. Your eyes rose back up to his. You couldn’t stop smiling. You felt like crying with how unbelievably happy you felt in this moment.

 

His lips, pulled into a sultry smile. His eyes...his wonderful eyes that you’d missed looking into so badly - were even better than you’d remembered.

 

“Hey, sweetheart..” his voice purred out. Nearly dropping you to your knees with how weak they now felt. He dropped his mask to the table next to you both.

His other hand wrapped around your wrist, pulling you to him and then up into his arms. Your legs wrapped around his waist as your arms fastened themself around his shoulders. You buried your face into his neck - smelling his scent. Feeling the tightness of his hold - the pounding of his pulse through his neck, the rise and fall of chest - and his lips on the skin of your shoulder. 

You finally had him back. After all of this time.

 

You could barely breath let alone speak though your smile, but you managed the only words that could come to mind though these -over the moon- feelings.

 

“Hello, Jack...”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well readers, this is the end. 
> 
> For now ^_^ 
> 
> I’m really sorry that this last chapter took me longer to get out. Stuff just starting going wrong in real life and I was pretty down the past few weeks. I just had nearly no motivation to write and that was bumming me out as well. With the Borderlands 3 deadline I’d set quickly approaching - I decided to just start writing one night when I couldn’t sleep. A few hours later and I finished the chapter! ^_^ 
> 
> It’s not great, and definitely not my favorite chapter...but it’s finished, finally! 
> 
> It really did feel bittersweet that so many of you didn’t want it to be over yet 💛  
> So, I’m sorry if you didn’t want it to end...but at least I didn’t just forget about it for months, or never finish it ^_^ 
> 
> Anyway, leave me comments! Tell me everything you thought! Good or bad! Over this chapter or the whole fic! 💛 long comments are great, don’t ever feel like you’re just rambling on - those are my favorite! ^_^


	34. Authors Note

I just wanted to thank everyone who has kept up with and enjoyed this fic. I was honestly in a kind of bad place, mentally, when I decided to write this and kind of just escape reality. I never expected anyone to really enjoy it, since there really isn’t many reader fics on here. It actually took me a few weeks to get the courage built up to post something that I’ve written online, and as the first several chapters went by without a single comment or kudos, it really bummed me out. Then, one day I got my first comment telling me to keep going with the story! 

I may say thank you each and every chapter for the comments and kudos, but I seriously meant every thanks. The comments from all of you wonderful people kept me going on this and really brightened my day every time I got a new one! ^_^ they’ve seriously pulled me out of a depressive episode before! I always looked forward to seeing what everyone thought of the latest chapter, it’s really what drove me to keep it updated so regularly! ^~^ 

 

I had had an idea of the story before I had even began writing it...however, it didn’t go exactly the way I had first envisioned it...but that’s okay! It ended the same either way ^_^ 

 

I could always make a part two, but I don’t know if anyone would want that ^~^ 

 

Either way, this probably isn’t the only fic I’ll ever post. I may do some one-shots or whatever. So keep a look out for me ^_^ 

 

I would like to see what you guys would like to read though. Reader fic, OC, other borderlands characters, Rhack maybe? I’m up for any of it ^_^ 

 

Until next time, 

Thank you all soooo much for reading and giving me your love for the past few months! 

Edit (because I forgot to add)

Come talk to me on Tumblr! I’d love to talk to people that (obviously) like some things I like too!

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thesexygeekythings

-B


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